What About Now?
by Tales from a Teacup
Summary: [CGI TMNT 2007 film] Xena has always wished, hoped, and prayed that her boyfriend Leo would return from his training in Central America. She was surprised when he refused to talk to his family and even her for sometime, but now that he suddenly appeared she's not too sure if she wants him back after he betrayed her. If Leo did it to her, how can Xena save her son from the same fate
1. Precognition

_The stars were seen from up above, bright, almost as bright as the moon. Her vision focused on a set of stars where they slowly came into a row and started to light up as blood red beads in the sky. A cosmic power from the heavens above shot from the farthest star and travelled down to the lowest star until it came crashing down to Earth. She watched as the ray hit a constellation that looked more old than the finest treasures around it as the stone came alive and started to spin. At first, the stone was slow, until it started to move faster and faster as the ray turned into a vortex. Then just as she didn't think it could possibly get any worse, shadows appeared out of the beam of light as they jumped out running straight for her._

Xena gasped as she jumped up and started to pant as she looked around at her bearings. She slowly started to calm down when she noticed that she was in Leo's room. Even though it was supposed to be a rather cold night, Xena was drenched in sweat as the blankets stuck to her legs. She struggled to work herself free as she picked herself up from the bed and slowly got out of the room. She was about to leave the bedroom when she noticed someone standing in the doorway.

Master Splinter spoke through the darkness, "Come. Have some tea with me, my daughter. Tell me about your vision. I could sense that this one is about danger. We must talk"

"I didn't get to see as much but I could tell that it has something to do with constellations. Something or someone is planning on releasing some kind of monster raid over our heads" Xena explained before she took a long sip of tea, "I didn't get to see who though"

"And what about us?" Master Splinter questioned, "Did you see anyone in our family in danger? We must assume that this will happen in our city. All of your visions seem to be whenever it is of danger to you or our family"

"No, Master, I didn't see anyone and I couldn't tell if I was there" Xena told him, knowing what Master Splinter might be suggesting.

"This is troubling news. Do you know when it will happen?"

"When a certain set of stars align. I couldn't really tell which ones, it just happened so fast"

"It is alright, my child"

"But what if my vision does come true?"

Master Splinter sighed, "We will have to hope that my sons will act as one by that time"

Xena nodded as she knew who he was hinting on; Leonardo. She tried her best not to show that even implying about him bothered her, she still had trouble on the inside. Her throat constricted as she forced her tea up to her lips and sipped it slowly. She looked at the rat which she knew was watching her closely.

"But what if he doesn't return? We'll have to do something or else the city is lost" Xena implied.

"What are you saying?"

"Send me out instead"

"No! You're too much of value now"

"But aside from your sons, I have telepathic abilities that could help save our city. I can't stand by and let people die from whatever is going to go through that portal"

"Think about Aidan"

"That's who I'm only thinking about! Why do you think I'm doing this?"

"You are a new mother, Xena, it is understandable how your maternal instincts will make you want to go out and protect the city for your son" Master Splinter told her, "But sometimes, staying out of the battle is the only way to protect him"

Xena opened her mouth to say more but then she slowly closed it and gazed down to the table. If there was anyone in her family that she should listen to, it's Master Splinter. He was the only one who she knew who has a close relationship with his children and she was hoping that she could mold her relationship with her child after his example.

"If you go, then Aidan will have no one until Leo comes back" Master Splinter gently said, "As much as you have the driving spirit to save others, you must look within now and see what matters the most"

Xena slowly nodded as she remembered the first time she held her son in her arms; how suddenly it didn't matter that Leo refused to come back from his training. She only cared about the small bundle wrapped in her arms as he snuggled into her, knowing that she was his mother.

Xena confessed, "I wish I told him that we were expecting"

"You wanted it to be a surprise" Master Splinter reminded her.

Xena sighed as she looked back to the elder rat.

"But at what cost? Look at the situation we're in now?" Xena said in a low voice.

"We all didn't know that he wasn't going to come back"

"Nor did we know that he was going to stop writing to us"

Master Splinter gave a small smile, "I see that you've forgotten how Leonardo acts. I am quite surprised at you, Xena"

"What are you talking about, Sensei?" Xena questioned.

"Leonardo is always hard on himself-"

"Now that I didn't forget"

She could remember countless times how the turtle would come into her apartment going on and on about how he messed up on one little thing. Even Xena would know that whatever mistake he thinks he did, it was all inside his head. That was Leo's worst enemy; his mind. He was such a constant perfectionist that even Xena had trouble getting through to him sometimes. She felt a small smile come across her lips as she couldn't help but remember how Leo would come in ranting about himself and then leave apologizing for how he acted. The blue clad ninja always thought that somehow he was a bother to her when really, she looked forward to his visits.

"Which is why he is staying behind" Master Splinter continued.

Xena scrunched up her eyebrows together and looked to him as he continued to stare at her. She sometimes wished that she could read into the minds of animals but so far, her magic hadn't bloomed in that way. She often fantasized about the wisdom and knowledge that she could gain just by peeking into the mind of the rat for five minutes. Now it seemed like he was playing a game with her. She let out a small huff as it flickered a candle on the table before he went on.

She wondered if Leo had come back when he was supposed to, would she and Master Splinter be having a different conversation right now? Would Leo have been in here listening to the wisdom of his father? Or would he be inside, making sure that Aidan doesn't wake up and disturb his brothers? Xena yearned for the turtle on nights like these when she had intense visions in the night and no one there to comfort her.

A tear came down her cheek as she quickly brushed it away. She didn't want Sensei to see her cry. She had to be strong for Leo's brothers, her baby's grandfather, and most of all, her baby.

Master Splinter placed a gentle hand under her chin, "It is alright to cry. Tears are not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. You've been holding it in for too long now"

Xena's face scrunched up as she felt more tears pour down her cheeks as her shoulders caved in as she started to cry. She felt the material of a robe wrap around her as Master Splinter held her and placed his head over hers.

"I just want him back. I've tried communicating with him but he doesn't answer"

"He has to deal with this on his own. He will find you before he even returns home"

Xena shuddered as the thought came to her mind of Leo smiling from outside of her window, asking to come in.

"What if he likes it over there?" Xena questioned.

Splinter froze up for a moment as he gazed down to the redhead teenager. That was the question that's been plaguing his mind the entire time as well. What if he liked staying at the temple and learning more ancient arts? Did he send his eldest son to a place where he can no longer follow? Splinter quickly threw those thoughts out of his mind as he smoothed the young girl's hair. He knew his son's eternal force is his family, he will return someday and Splinter was counting down the days until he did.

He finally said, "He would never leave you behind, my dear. Even now, I can only imagine that he is missing you more than anything"

"I hope you're right. Otherwise he's going to miss out on his son's first birthday" Xena sniffed as she straightened up, "I should be going back to bed now. Don't want Aidan to wake up Raph"

"No, that will not be an easy thing to witness" Master Splinter smiled down to her, "Good night, my child"

"Thank you, Sensei" Xena smiled to him.

Splinter helped the woman stand as they both walked arm in arm into the darkness. He didn't want Xena to feel that she was totally alone in this situation. He's seen how the young girl acts like her normal self to his son's in hopes of convincing them that she is alright, but it didn't work for him. He knew the young one was feeling so much blame as she entered the room and walked over to the bed. Splinter walked in slightly to go to the little crib that was made in the corner.

He gazed down to his grandson, not knowing that his mother had left the room for a little bit. Aidan had the same facial features and hair color as Xena but has the golden-amber brown eyes of Leo, he has a slight blush thanks to his mother being a human and green skin like his father. Splinter reached down and caressed the infant's cheek as he slightly stirred but didn't wake up, making the grandfather smile a little bit wider before turning to the mother who just climbed into bed. She was watching the interaction from afar as a smile mirrored on her face.

Xena whispered, "Thank you for everything. I don't know what I would do without you"

Splinter smiled as he walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder and gently kissed the top of the human's head. Xena smiled back up to the rat as he turned and walked back over to the hall. He turned back around as the young girl had shuffled herself into the bed that was once his eldest sons before he left.

"When you're family, you will do anything for them" He told her, "No matter what the cost"

Xena smiled as she turned and faced the wall as she stared at the Japanese character that meant the word: _family._

Her mind drifted off to sleep as she imagined herself trying to communicate with Leo but she knew that if she tried, he wouldn't answer. He's been ignoring her ever since he left the temple behind. She remembered trying and trying to reach out to him but to no avail. Sometimes she would be in a meditative state for so long that she would just pass out in a nap from trying so hard. Xena had hoped that telling him that she was pregnant would make him come back. But in the end, it was her decision to let him go to Central America and not his.

* * *

The runway was buzzing with people as the dawn was barely breaking. It was hard to believe that the airport was open for 24 hours a day. Even though no one knew which plane would lead to where from the outside, Leo seemed to know as his eyes zeroed in on the one in the far right. He looked behind him to see his father, brothers, his friends Casey and April, along with April's cousin who is also his girlfriend; Xena. He smiled to them as he moved back over to his family.

Mikey quickly lunged himself at the eldest in a bearhug that Leo was sure that he was going to crack his shell. Instead of telling him to get off, he embraced his little brother until he wanted to let go. Donnie was next, like his personality, he was gentle with his hug as he tried not to tear up. Raph came up to Leo and embraced him in a strong hug as he whispered a farewell.

"I am proud of you, my son. Let us know when you arrive there. Give Usagi my thanks and tell him we will rematch soon enough. I am sure he's looking forward to it. Be safe" His father said as he gave him one last hug.

"I will, father. I'll return as soon as I can" Leo straightened up, "I promise"

Casey came up to the turtle next, "Make sure to come back with souvenirs. I want a pinata, a runestone, and maybe a cursed gem if you're feeling generous enough. See ya, buddy. Write when you can"

"I will, just remember our deal" Leo glanced over his shoulder to Xena.

"Don't worry. I'll keep her safe"

"Hey, Leo. I couldn't help but pack this for your trip"

"You didn't have to, April"

"You know I worry"

Leo chuckled as he took the baked cookies, "You were always like a big sister to me"

April smiled to him and hugged him as tears fell freely from her cheeks. When they stopped hugging he glanced over to Xena who slowly made her way over to him. He smiled down to her as her red hair caught fire from the sun of the dawn.

Leo turned to everyone else, "Could you guys give us a minute? I wanna talk to Xena alone"

"Sure"

"Just make sure you don't miss your flight"

"Bro, that's a good thing! Take your time!"

"Come on, guys. Let's give the love doves some time alone"

"Casey..."

"What? How else are they going to leave?"

Xena turned around and tried to smile at Leo, "So I guess this is it! It's funny how time could be your worst enemy"

Leo wrapped his arms around Xena and brought his lips crashing down into hers, he could tell she was expecting the kiss, from a premonition, no doubt. They both came up for air shortly after as she opened her eyes and looked at him, trying her best to smile.

"I'll talk to you everyday once I get there. You don't even have to wait for my letters" Leo assured her.

Her eyes shot up as she looked at his eyes.

"I've never communicated to someone that far" Xena confessed.

"You're very powerful, Xena, I know you'll be able to" Leo nuzzled the side of her head with his snout.

She giggled a little bit as a sound beeped out that made her heart sink, it was the warning sign of the airplane. Leo heard it too as he glanced over his shoulder as he saw the crew finishing up with throwing the luggage into the plane. He suddenly didn't want to go, he wanted to take Xena by the hand and lead her away from the airport and go back into the nearest storm drain. He sighed as he looked back down to Xena as this time she seemed to be the one full of confidence. She smiled as she gave one last feel of the blue bandana as she twirled it around her fingers. Leo held her as if he would never let her go as he took in the scent of her shampoo with the smell of a powerful, sweet, and spicy aroma that filled his senses.

"Don't worry about me, Leo, what I feel for you will never change" Xena whispered, "I'll wait for you"

"I know you will, Xena, that's why I love you so much"


	2. Family

"Good morning, little dude!" Was the next thing she heard.

Xena slowly opened her eyes and looked over to the corner to see Mikey had already barged into Leo's room. Aidan was already standing up in his crib, beckoning for Mikey to pick him up. Mikey smiled from ear to ear as he picked up his nephew and started to toss him up in the air. He nuzzled with the baby as he rocked him back and forth, making Aidan squeal out. It never ceased to amaze her how much Mikey is thrilled to see his nephew in the morning, it didn't matter because Aidan shared the same entertaining attitude as his uncle. Without looking over his shoulder to see if he woke up Xena or not, Mikey stole for the kitchen with Aidan in his arms.

Xena sighed as she quickly got herself out of bed, knowing that Mikey might be already doing flips down the stairs. She took one glance over to the nightstand picture at Leo and her holding each other tight in the Dojo room. Xena allowed herself to be sad until she mentally counted to ten before she smiled brightly and picked herself up from her bed. She walked down the stairs where she already was hearing Donnie commanding Mikey to change Aidan's diaper. She knew as well as anyone in this house that he nor Raphael do diaper duty.

Donnie was saying, "He hasn't even pooped in the diaper"

"Then you should do it!" Mikey encouraged.

"I do it plenty of times" Donnie folded his arms over his chest, "It's time for you to change his diaper. Just once"

"I'll start changing his diaper when he is potty trained"

"What does that even mean? You make no sense sometimes, Mikey" Donnie told her brother gently.

Xena entered the room, "He's saying that he won't change his diapers, ever. Nice try, Donnie"

Donnie let out a frustrated sigh, "You already do enough, Xena"

"I'm his mother, remember? It's my job to do enough and more"

"He's also his uncle…"

Mikey corrected, "The **fun** uncle. You're just the ever-so-wise uncle"

"And what about Raph?"

"What you mean who he is to Aidan? Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious" Donnie shrugged.

He opened his mouth to speak just as he heard a thud beside him. Mikey didn't have to look over his shoulder to know that Raph was standing behind him. Xena couldn't help but giggle as the tough turtle stood patiently waiting to hear what the youngest had to say. Xena dropped the dirty diaper in the bin made especially for his diapers as she picked him up and turned to the other turtles.

Mikey quickly recovered, "That's easy… the laid-back uncle"

Raph huffed, "Nice choice of words. Didn't think you knew anymore word that little fire here. I was starting to think that the ooze stunted your mental state of mind"

"You would be surprised"

"I would be surprised if you actually had an intelligent conversation with Mr. Logical Uncle, here. That would make my shell pop off"

"Be nice" Xena warned.

"Whatever you say" Raph turned to her, "Just as long as I get to hold my nephew for a little bit. I won't do flips up to the second floor, alright"

Xena said slowly, "Fine"

"He's going to flip" Mikey mumbled as he moved to the kitchen.

Raph ignored him as Xena passed the infant into his muscular arms as he rocked the baby up and down. She watched as Raph even made a funny noise to his nephew as he giggled at the older turtle. It seemed to surprise everyone in that room how he could still be a hot-tempered brother but an easygoing uncle to Aidan.

Xena turned and walked away as she knew Raph liked his time alone with the baby. She sat down next to Donnie who was already flipping through the newspaper as he handed her a cup of frappuccino.

Xena smiled, "Thanks! So any new inventions to work on? What about that device you were so hell bent on making Aidan?"

"You mean the image-inducer? It's going along just fine! I just need to fix up a few things before I can actually test it out on the little guy" Donnie explained, "I'm hoping to get a reaction out of the human DNA he carries from you in hopes of making him more human. It's just that my job keeps me away from my own projects sometimes"

Xena reached out and gripped onto Donnie's hands, "Then why don't you take some time off? You help out enough just by working eight hours a day. Why did you accept a job for 24 hours? You know that if you guys ever need anything, I'm more than happy to get it for you"

Donnie looked over to the older teen, "I appreciate it, Xena, but I'm not going to allow it. We need to at least contribute every once in awhile here. You work part time anyways. You can hardly make a living yourself with the economy like this"

"I can handle it" Xena told him, "Don't worry about me"

"Still… I was hoping to have the image-inducer ready by his birthday" Donnie sighed as he looked over to his nephew, "I don't even think that I will be able to make it in time for that"

Xena looked over to the purple-clad turtle as she wanted to say something more but Mikey placed down countless plates of food.

Mikey smiled to himself, "Breakfast is served! SENSEI! Time to eat! Get it before it's gone, dudes and dudette! Mikey's Specialty doesn't last for very long"

Raphael came over and placed Aidan on the high-chair next to Xena as he found his place at the table. Master Splinter slowly walked out of the dojo and over to the table. He gave a glance over to Xena as her mind flashed back over to the dream she had. She smiled and gave him a nod as he sat down and started to serve himself. Xena straightened up and fixed up a small plate for Aidan as she cut up his food. She quickly grabbed her plate and served as much as she desired, hoping to get her chance in before Mikey starts eating up everything.

"This smells delicious, Mikey! Thanks" Xena turned to the youngest.

Mikey gave a toothless grin as he already had a mouthful of food in his mouth. Xena couldn't help but giggle as she took a piece out of her own food. Normally, she would be above the surface in a shared apartment that she has with her cousin and her boyfriend Casey. Lately, Casey has been doing vigilante stuff at night and occasionally, Xena comes down to spend the night with the turtles. It gives the turtles and Splinter more of a chance to see their nephew and be close to him.

Master Splinter smiled, "How does my grandson likes his omelette? You like eating by yourself, don't you?"

"I love it! I can eat what's on everyone's plate!" Mikey answered back.

Donnie looked over to his brother, "Mikey… he wasn't really talking about you"

"Then who was he talking to?" Mikey asked, confused.

Raph rolled his eyes, "Idiot! He was talking to the baby"

Mikey made a silent O with his mouth as he blushed and ducked his head a little bit lower into his shell. Xena shook her head as she glanced over to her baby as he happily used his hands to eat the rest that was on his omelette. She pet his small red hair as she curled the ends with as much as she could. Aidan didn't do much but continued to eat as this was a gesture his mother often did.

Master Splinter spoke up, "What is everyone going to be doing today?"

"Homework"

"Sleep"

"Work"

"Being mutilated by children"

Everyone turned to Mikey as he gave off a slight shrug. He picked up his plate and brought it over to the sink to wash.

"It's the hardcore truth, dudes"


	3. Central America

Xena opened the door, "I'm home!"

She closed the door behind her as she pulled off the blanket around Aidan who was fussing and trying to fight out of the bundle already. She set down their bags and walked into the living room where Casey was getting up from the couch. Xena glanced over to the TV and wasn't really surprised to see that a hockey game was on as she set down Aidan in the living room. Xena walked over to the refrigerator and opened it up to find something other than pizza to eat. Xena was about to ask how was Casey's day when she noticed that today was the 7th. She turned around and looked at Casey whom she noticed hadn't spoken a word to her since she came into the room.

"Where's April?"

"She had to stay a couple of more days in Central America" Casey quickly said.

"Really? She didn't tell me anything about that" Xena scrunched up her brows as she took a sip from the gatorade.

Casey shrugged, "It just came up, she said she wanted to do a little bit of shopping while she was there"

Xena felt her head fill with Casey's voice as she read his mind, _Just go back you petting little Aidan like nothing is going on. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. April told me to say just that and she'll back off. Oh, God she's giving that creepy look again! I know she's in my head, I know it! Whatever just don't think anything about Leo-_

"Leo!" Xena exclaimed.

Casey threw up his hands in the air, "You weren't supposed to hear that!"

Xena waved that off, "No, wait a minute! Go back… you said that April was there because of Leo?"

"Well, I didn't technically say it-"

"Casey…"

"Alright, alright, alright!" Casey let out, "While on the business trip some local legend sounded a little bit close to home so April is staying there a little bit longer to poke around. She thinks it could be about Leo but she's not entirely sure. Listen, if your cousin does find Leo, I'm sure she would be able to bring him back to New York in no time. Just have some faith"

* * *

April stared at the turtle sitting across the fire from her, she still felt like this was some sort of hallucination. She thought about searching for Leo but never did she really think that he was out in the heart of the jungle. Her hand itched to go into her pocket and pull out the picture she had in there; the picture of her little cousin Xena and her child Aidan. _Leo's_ son, Aidan, a son he as of this moment doesn't know that he has. April inhaled as she knew the best way to go about this was to not tell him about Aidan right away.

April continued, "Your training period ended a year ago. And Splinter says you don't write anymore"

Leo quickly retorted, "Splinter sent me down here to become a better leader. I can't go back a failure. Besides, these people need me more than my brothers do"

"If Master Splinter were here he would ask you, "What is your heart telling you?"" April gently replied back.

Leo stood up, "I don't know, I just know something's missing"

"Could that missing piece be Xena?"

Leo felt his heart shatter in a million pieces as he refused to look at April. When he first heard April yelling up on the jungle floor, he was sort of hoping that it was her. He even forgot how much April and Xena looked alike for being cousins. Leo remained quiet as he refused to answer the question, knowing that his heart was telling him yes but his mind was telling him no.

"You didn't ask about how she was doing" April went on.

"It's because I don't want to know" Leo barely whispered out, "She's got a new life and is focusing on her career"

When April glanced down, that's when Leo took his leave into the night. He watched from the shadows as April called out to him before he moved away into the part of the cave that he made his permanent encampment. Leo leaned onto the wall and let out a small sigh as he reached down to the makeshift table and took a picture out Xena smiling with a clear lake behind her as one of his recent memories came to mind.

* * *

Leo felt the air between him and Xena almost transform into a wall as the silence was deafening and more than he could bear.

Xena quickly said, "You should go then"

Leo looked up to her, "Go?"

She nodded, "You've been waiting for this opportunity for nearly all your life. You **need** to go to Central America"

Leo opened his mouth to say more but he instead slowly made his way over to his girlfriend. She placed a hand on his plastron as he looked down to her, trying to remember everything about her this moment.

"But I'll be gone for five months" Leo stated.

"But when you return, you will be a leader in his final form" Xena pointed out.

Leo rolled his eyes and looked away from Xena, he hated how he sometimes tells her everything. At first, when he said that, he thought he said something completely stupid. But now, she's using it as her own leverage against him.

Xena continued, "You're so selfless, Leo, willing to drop everything you dreamed about to just stay here"

"I also dreamed about having a girlfriend like you" Leo replied back.

"Great! You have her!" Xena smiled, "But she is telling you to pursue your own dreams and drop the responsibilities for once"

Xena brought herself up to his lips and gently kissed him as he wrapped an arm around her waist. She placed both hands on the sides of his head as she pressed herself closer and closer to his body. Leo squeezed his eyes shut, almost like as if it was his time to go already. He broke the kiss as he looked into her eyes, full of confidence and joy for him.

"I leave in 25 days" Leo whispered.

"Then I guess we better make the most of those 25 days" Xena giggled.

Leo swallowed, "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive" Xena responded, "Master Splinter says that it's time for you to do what you really want to do. You've been talking so much about the training period in Central America that sometimes you talk about it in your sleep"

Leo rolled his eyes again, "Okay, I don't go to that extreme"

"But you get the point, don't you?" Xena took his hands and gave them a grip.

"But what about you?"

"What about me?"

Leo was about to open his mouth to say that she might get tired of waiting but then stopped as he avoided her eyes. He doesn't want to think of his girlfriend in the arms of a human, especially since he's just an overgrown turtle. He felt his head being moved over so that he was forced to look at Xena, he gave her a smirk.

"You know that's not fair"

"Nor is thinking that I would leave you while you're gone on your trip" Xena told him, making Leo look to her in shock.

"You're predictable sometimes, Leo" Xena smiled, "But I would never do that to you, I'm your girlfriend the day you leave and you best believe that I will be your girlfriend the day you come back"


	4. When I'm Gone

Xena formed her jaw as she tapped her fingers down on her arms as she paced her room. The fire inside her chest almost felt like it was starting to make her room beyond boiling. She couldn't believe that Casey was going to lie to her! She couldn't believe that April didn't want Xena to know the truth! She wondered if the turtles even knew about what was going on. She turned to get her phone when she noticed Casey had slowly opened her door.

He said, "Dinner's ready"

Xena shifted away from him, "I'm not hungry"

"Oh, come on, Xena" Casey leaned on the doorframe.

"So were you two ever going to tell me about seeing Leo?" Xena challenged, "Or were you planning on just letting me never know"

Before Casey could answer, a cry was heard from in the living room. Aidan must've noticed that he was alone as Xena walked past the other man and quickly into the room where her baby was sobbing on his blanket. She picked him up and gently rocked the baby up and down as she wiped away his tears. Xena brought her lips to his temple and gave him small kisses which calmed down her son. Without looking at Casey, she turned and walked over to the dinner table to eat.

"We didn't want to give you too much hope" Casey finally answered.

"So better for me to not know at all" Xena retorted, "Makes sense considering how I was his girlfriend"

"Was?"

"He hasn't been here in over a year"

Casey slowly sat down, "So that's it? You don't love him anymore?"

Xena looked down to the table as she felt her heart weigh down into her stomach. She sighed as she knew in her gut that she still loved him, probably always will. Her eyes gazed over to her son drinking his bottle of milk as she could easily see a part of Leo in him as well. If it wasn't for giving birth to Aidan, the departure of Leo would've been more than she could bear.

"I don't know what to think of him" Xena confessed.

"This is why April wanted to stay a couple of more days" Casey told her, "To try and bring him back. He needs to know what he really left behind"

Xena looked up to him, "April's going to tell him about Aidan? But we don't even know how he'll react to that"

Casey let out, "We tried writing letters, you tried reaching out to him telepathically, and now it's time for April to pay him a visit. He needs to know about Aidan, Xena. He is the little man's father after all. He deserves to know that much"

Xena shifted, "But what if he doesn't come back after that?"

Casey narrowed his eyes, "Is that what you're afraid of?"

A tear rolled down her cheek as she quickly brushed it away. She looked away from her cousin's boyfriend as she didn't want him to see her like this. Xena quickly perked up as she gave a happy face over to her son, trying to avoid the conversation at hand.

"You're afraid that he's going to reject Aidan just like he rejected the rest of his family" Casey pieced together.

Xena mumbled, "Isn't everyone?"

"Aren't you kind of selling Leo short on that comment?" Casey countered.

Xena looked over to him, "Who knows anymore. We all thought that he would come back but he never did"

"I don't know, I think Leo would be happy to know that he's a dad" Casey stretched out in his chair.

"How do you know?" Xena asked, "None of the turtles thought it was possible, wouldn't you think it would come as a surprise to him?"

"Oh, come on! You forgot who's down there trying to bring him back home" Casey smiled.

"April?"

"Exactly!"

Xena stopped, "Yes, April can be persuasive but Leo is just as stubborn. Besides, he could stay hidden right in front of her without April ever noticing. He's done it to me before"

"But April loves Aidan more than anything in the world right now" Casey explained, "More than me and that's saying a lot for that little guy. She keeps her phone filled with baby pictures of him and gives off any excuse to talk about him. I believe April will shed some good light on you and little Aidan here to the point that Leo will be proud of you for carrying on as much as you did. Trust me"

Xena looked back over to Aidan as he started to eat up his dinner. When he saw his mother looking at him, he gave off a giggle and made a fart sound with his mouth.

Xena sighed, "I hope that's enough. I honestly don't think what I would do if I ever saw him again. It's just been this routine that I feel like no matter how much I hope that Leo will return, he won't. I don't even know what to do if he ever does come back"

"Start up where you left off?" Casey suggested.

"Accept there's a big problem now, Casey. It's not just him and me anymore; it's him, me, and our son" Xena told him.

"You guys will get through it"

"What if this situation was between you and April?"

"Well, that's easy because I would've come back the day I said I would" Casey let out.

When he did, he noticed what he said and looked back over to Xena who stiffened up.

"I'm so sorry, I'm a stupid idiot for saying something like that" Casey apologized.

"It's okay. I know how you don't think before you speak sometimes" Xena smiled, "Let's just talk about something else, okay? Talking about Leo's potential return is making it exhausting for me. If it wasn't for peeking into your mind then I probably wouldn't know about it anyways"

Xena got up and decided that this was her chance to get some food that Casey had made for the three of them. She wasn't surprised to see that it was Sloppy Joe's considering how he loves to eat anything that's mainly meat. It was completely fine with Xena, as long as it isn't pizza. She never thought she would ever come to terms of being sick of pizza, ever. Xena brought over the dish and took a big bite into it to keep from talking to Casey. She didn't want to talk too much about Leo, feeling that saying his name too many times just makes her notice his absence a lot more.

Casey started again, "Do you think Aidan inherited some of your abilities?"

"What?"

"You know, your psychic abilities" Casey went on, "Precognition, astral projection, telepathy… oh! He probably got animal control, no doubt about that!"

"I highly doubt it" Xena told him, "I wasn't born with my powers. I was really sick when I was nine years old and was in the hospital for what felt like weeks. At one point, I flat-lined and was considered dead for over five minutes. When I was reborn, that's when I found out I had special abilities"

"Wow. I never really knew that story. April didn't really know when you started displaying powers until you met the turtles. She said you made them go back into their shells?"

"I panicked! She didn't tell me about them. What was I supposed to do? I thought my cousin needed help"

"Trust me. It was a big surprise for us all"

"April did tell me how she first met you"

"Did she tell you how much of a princess she was back then?"

"She kind of was a princess to everyone" Xena confessed, "But then she slowly started to turn around. It made hanging out with her a lot better"

Casey asked, "So you both weren't that close back then?"

"Oh, no, we were always close! We were the only two girls in our parents next generation"

"How come you don't talk much about your parents?"

Xena opened her mouth to say something but then suddenly stopped. Just thinking about her parents gives her an ill feeling. She hasn't spoken to them in almost a year already. The second she turned 18 was the second she decided to pack up her bags and leave. She was more than lucky to have a close relationship with her cousin otherwise she would have had nowhere else to go.

"They weren't that great" Xena finally said, "Very verbally abusive and expecting more from me. I just thought it was because of being stressed out at their jobs but that was before I learned to read minds. I never really figured out which was worse though; the things they said or the things they thought. It became too draining for me"

Xena glanced over to Aidan as he squirmed and motioned that he wanted to be pulled out of the highchair. When she found out she was pregnant, she became terrified of being like her parents. Xena brought her son over to his playmat as Casey took their plates and decided to wash them. Usually the house rules was whoever cooked, doesn't have to clean up but Casey figured she has a lot of things on her mind already.

"I'm just finding wonderful topics tonight, aren't I"

"Good thing April's not here"

Casey groaned, "You're telling me! By now I would've been knocked out by the hits she'd deliver to me. She always knew when to stop me though"

Xena watched as Casey had a small smile on his lips as he laid out on the couch. She glanced up at the clock and noticed that they took up most of the evening talking away. She was going to have to hurry if she was going to give Aidan a bath and tuck him into bed before it reached 7:00.

Xena turned to Casey, "Are you going out tonight? I saw that crime rates are peaking again"

Casey glanced to his watch and sighed. She didn't have to read his mind to know that he was already planning on going.

"It's days like these I wish I had help" Casey confessed, "I can't be everywhere at the same time and not get pinned as the criminal. I'll go when it gets closer to 10:30. That's when the punkers all come out. You'll be okay on your own, right? You don't need me to help you with Aidan?"

Xena smiled, "I'm okay. I think I can handle my own son, you know"

Casey smiled to her in return, "Forget about your parents, Xena, you're an extraordinary mother to your son and that's all that matters"


	5. Wake Up Call

"Good morning, sunshine" Xena smiled to her baby, "How are you today? Ready for some milk? Want mommy to hold it this time?"

Aidan squirmed as she tried to hold the bottle for him, "Of course not. You never do"

"It's weird how I miss the days when you used to let me do that for you" Xena told her son, "Funny how things change"

Aidan only sat up in his crib and drank his bottle, she found it better if she gave him the bottle first before changing him. He squirmed too much when she doesn't give him his bottle right away. She turned to the drawers for him and started to pick out his clothing for today. Xena held up a blue shirt and looked at it in the light. It took her a while to notice that she was mentally placing Leo's eyes in the center of the T-shirt, wishing it was his bandana.

"What color do you want to wear, little fire?" Xena asked, breaking out her trance, "Blue, yellow, pink, or green"

Aidan glanced at the pink shirt as he took it and threw it away from the bunch. Xena giggled as she picked it up and moved it away from him. She loves to tease her son from time to time with the pink. He's starting to figure out that it's too girly for his style. Aidan looked at all the clothes before he picked up the blue one and raised it over his head.

Xena mumbled, "I figured as much. Just like your father. Always prefer the blue over every other color"

She turned and started to look for jeans for her 11 month-old son to wear when the phone started to ring. She glanced at the clock and squinted as she wondered who would call early in the morning. Xena turned to the portable phone that was in her room. Xena glanced over to her son before she picked up the phone and listened to the conversation.

Casey was saying, "Oh, wait, babe, real quick. You left a message saying you found Leo. I mean, is he there with you?"

Xena felt her heart skip a beat as she leaned onto the nightstand. April really did it! She actually found Leo. A smile started to form on her face when she heard April's response.

"No. I found him. He's not coming back" April told him.

Xena felt tears form in her eyes as they trailed freely down her cheeks. Leo isn't coming back. He talked to April and still he chose to stay in Central America. Away from his family, away from his friends, and away from her. She cupped her mouth to keep from sobbing into the phone and blowing her cover.

"But didn't you tell him about Xena and Aidan?" Casey questioned.

"Look, Casey, we're gonna lose the biggest client we have if you don't get down here" April told him.

Casey sighed, "All right. I'm on my way"

Xena quickly hung up and opened her window and picked up a tissue as Casey knocked on her door.

"Hey, Xena, I'm going to be going to pick up April at the docks" Casey told her.

"She's back already"

"Yeah, she… are you alright?"

Xena nodded as she blew her nose, "Allergies are getting me already. Forgot that Spring is almost here"

"Bummer. Hey, little guy!"

Aidan brightened up when he saw Casey as he picked him up and over his head.

Xena sharply inhaled, "Be careful! He drank his formula"

Casey quickly brought him back down, "Right. Well, I'm going to pick her up"

Xena nodded as Casey closed the door, making Xena look over to her son in his blue shirt. She then walked over to him and took off his blue shirt, crumpled it, and threw it into the drawer again before she got a different shirt for him to wear.


	6. First Night

April mused, "It's seems quiet without the boys, doesn't it?"

Xena smiled, "We kind of do need it. It hasn't been just us O'Neil girls in a long time before the Turtles came around"

"I'm impressed that you decided to trust the uncles in letting Aidan sleepover without you" April acknowledged.

Xena gave a side nod, "I've been behind in my studies and plus I close tomorrow at the shop so it's kind of a 'me' time as much as I can get. I also asked Master Splinter to look out for Aidan when I'm not there; don't want Mikey skateboarding with him through the sewers and Donnie giving him unnecessary tests"

April sighed, "Yet Casey isn't here. Not that I don't mind being alone with you and all it's just that I worry about him. His vigilante days are kind of getting the best of me right now. It's just with the Turtles not out there to watch his back I kind of don't like him out there alone"

"And yet you don't let me go out to help him as well" Xena told her older cousin, "Doesn't matter anyways, I have a son now and responsibilities. Besides, if anything were to happen to him I'm sure I would get a vision of it"

"Yeah, I guess so" April sighed, "I'm sorry about Leo, I really did try, Xena"

"Please don't" Xena quickly said.

"But…" April tried but Xena shook her head.

Xena sighed, "I can't go through another round of _I'm sorry your boyfriend chose not to come back_ lines"

"I understand" April quickly nodded.

"Still, I wish I knew this from the very beginning" Xena confessed, "Would've saved me a whole lot of trouble"

* * *

Xena paced back and forth in her room, shaking and breathing heavily as she tried to wrap around what she just saw. Her parents were being nothing but cruel to her to the point that she ran out of the house and went straight for April's apartment. Her cousin had given her a key and said to drop by anytime things got rough at her house. So she figured that she could come whenever she wanted to but didn't think that she would see four enormous turtles standing there in front of her. She turned around and looked out the window only to gasp and drop down to the ground covering her mouth. There was one of the turtles standing outside of her window right now.

"Go away please" Xena whispered in a shaky breath.

"May I come in?" The Turtle asked, "I can explain everything"

Xena nodded, "Explain everything, right. Like why is there a giant turtle hanging out of my room and talking to me right now"

The turtle tried again, "It's a lot more simpler than that"

"Why did you come here?" Xena asked.

"I'm not going to hurt you if that's what you're worried about. If your cousin can trust four of us in her apartment, can't you at least try and trust one?" The turtle pleaded.

Xena thought about it for a moment before she stiffened up when she heard footsteps by her door. She relaxed when she heard at least one of her parents had gone off to bed. She glanced back over to the Turtle hanging out of her room as he stood there waiting patiently for her response. Xena slowly picked herself up off of the ground and nodded for him to come in. The turtle smiled to her and slowly came in, Xena stared at the two swords behind his back before he noticed her gaze and put the swords safely by the window.

Xena cleared her throat, "Nice swords"

The turtle responded, "They're actually twin katana's. My name is Leonardo, what's yours?"

"Didn't my cousin already tell you?" Xena challenged.

Leonardo responded, "I'd rather have you tell me your name than to go off on memory"

Xena shifted, "It's Xena"

The teenager and turtle stood there in silence for a long time, Xena just really taking in the turtle now that she wasn't too busy trying to run away. He was wearing a blue bandana which really made his eyes look like they were glowing. He seemed really muscular for an average turtle but then again she's never seen a turtle as tall as her before.

"So you really aren't here to hurt me" Xena said.

Leonardo shook his head, "Just trying to let you understand how I became like this"

Xena furrowed her eyebrows together, "Why?"

Leonardo confessed, "To be honest, it is what my Sensei ordered me to do, but now I understand it's because we're not the bad guys. People always think that because we're different, we're more ruthless at ending life. Our appearance is shocking as it already is but we don't want to instill fear in people who can be our allies"

Xena couldn't help but let out a little laugh, "Did you just put all that together or did you memorize some kind of old book of War and Peace, Leonardo?"

The blue clad turtle smirked, "Call me Leo"


	7. Second Chance

Xena yawned loudly as she walked down the sewage passageway towards the Turtles home. Closing today almost felt like the more she put stuff away, the more she found stuff out of place; it was like Aidan had followed her there and was messing with her even at work. What she really wanted to do was cuddle with little Aidan in a big warm blanket and drift off into sleep. She walked down the stairs to see Mikey and Donnie snoring in front of the tv as she heard Master Splinter talking while Raph lingered outside of the dojo. Xena furrowed her eyebrows as curiosity got the best of her as she decided to see what he was looking at. Raph glanced back over his shoulder and stared at Xena for a little bit before he moved slightly as Xena's mouth dropped from seeing Master Splinter handing Leo a Medal of Honor.

Master Splinter was saying, "Your strength is needed here now. You owe me no apology, but perhaps you should talk to Xena and Raphael. Your absence has been particularly difficult for the two for them though they'll never admit it"

Leo nodded, "I'm certain things will be back to normal in no time, master"

Splinter responded, "Good. Because until you can act as one, you are forbidden to fight"

"Yes, sensei" Leo obeyed.

"I've missed you, Leonardo" Splinter hugged his son.

Leo whispered, "I've missed you too, Father"

"Raphael! Your brother is home" Master Splinter yelled out, making Xena quickly hide herself behind the metal door.

"Hey"

"Hey" Raph said as he hesitated, "Welcome home"

Xena felt her heart crush as Leo said, "Yeah. Thanks"

Raph yawned, "Well, I'm going to bed but uh, Xena has something to say"

Before Xena could move, Raph pushed the metal door further, exposing her from her hiding space. She stared at Master Splinter who seemed to have known she was there and Leo who seemed happy but as usual contained himself. She almost felt her body was on fire from blushing anywhere possible as she slowly took a step into the dojo. Raph rolled his eyes, placed his hand on her back before he gave her an extra push. Xena was forced into the room as she turned around and glared at him.

"I have something I need to tell you" Xena started, "I don't really know how to say it so I'm just going to blurt it out"

Splinter nodded to her as Xena suddenly felt like her throat was being held in a chokehold restricting her from saying what she needed to say, "When you left us… I was pregnant"

Leo took a step back and looked to his father who only nodded as Leo took in a shaky breath, "That's not possible"

"But it did, his name is Aidan" Xena felt a cramp come through on the side of her stomach as she started to twist her fingers around.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Leo asked.

Xena stared at Leo as he waited for an answer, wondering if he really did say that. He hasn't been home in over a year and now all of a sudden it's _**her**_ fault that she didn't tell him? Her jaw formed as she really wanted to yell at him but being that this was the first time anyone has seen him since before he left, she had to keep it in. Instead, she chose to hurt him with words.

Xena replied, "I wanted it to be a surprise for when you returned. I thought that if you stayed true to your word, you would've come home the time you said you would"

"If I knew back then… and here I thought you were running out of surprises" Leo joked but the wisecrack fell flat when Xena didn't even flinch to smile at him, "Is he here now?"

"Yes" Master Splinter spoke up, "Would you like to see him?"

"Not right now, I need to take this all in" Leo stated as Raph and Xena exchanged glances with one another.

"Sensei, can I take my brothers out to start on our training?" Leo asked, "I think we all need to be together again"

Splinter nodded as he said, "Of course, but as long as you take Xena with you as well"

Leo looked over to his father, "What?"

"You may need to work on rekindling your relationship with your brothers but you also have to renew your bond with Xena, she is not only your significant other but also the mother of your child and until you two can work together than that is when you both will be extraordinary parents" Splinter was saying.

Xena could see it in Leo's face that he wanted to object his father's wishes but didn't have the heart to say so. Raph seemed to notice as well as he smirked and folded his arms over his chest as he seemed to enjoy this sort of conflict. Xena, on the other hand, didn't like how Leo didn't want to be around her or the baby that they created.

Xena spoke up, "Thank you, sensei, I'll go and change so we can begin"

"But, aren't you tired with school, work, and taking care of the…" Leo trailed off as he realized he couldn't say the word baby.

"Hardly" Xena glared at him.

"I'll wake them up" Raph stated as both he and Xena left the dojo.

They walked in silence before Raph whispered, "He hears he has a son and all he says is _that's not possible_?"

"I know right?" Xena scoffed.

* * *

"Okay, Leo, I'll bite. What are we doing up here?" Raph said 20 minutes later.

Leo answered, "I told Splinter I'd get this team in shape again"

Mikey chirped in from the ladder, "Hey, I've been training. Since you left, my video game scores have, like, doubled"

"Right, and while you've been playing games, little brother, this Nightwatcher's come into the neighborhood like some kind of vigilante showboat" Xena took a side glance over to Raph who straightened up at the sound of the Nightwatcher, "But his days are done"

"Hey, you went AWOL, Leo and the Nightwatcher was the only guy to pick up the slack" Raph jumped down and moved to him, "Crime never took a break. You did"

"I heard his bike turns into a plane or, like, a jetpack" Mikey brightened up as he looked over to his brother, "Hey, Don, you're so smart, why don't we have jetpacks?"

Donnie moved away from his baby brother, "That's good, Mikey. I don't even trust you with a driver's license. Have you seen the way this guy behaves-"

A roar sounded from the construction site behind Xena, making her bones almost vibrate from the sound. She gasped and turned as she noticed a visible shadow in the building.

Mikey said from beside her, "Someone's cranky"

The roar sounded once again as Xena wondered what kind of animal was up there.

"Okay, jungle boy. Grab a vine"

"Raph, wait. Splinter told us not to fight"

Mikey laughed, " _Jungle boy._ Good one"

"You coming, Xena?" Donnie yelled from below on the bar.

"I'll meet you there" Xena called out as she turned to find a safe place on the roof.

Leo said from behind her, "I think you should probably go home"

Xena turned around and looked at him, "And I think you should probably catch up with your brothers"

Before Leo could answer, Xena quickly moved over to the shadows and located a safe place where she could meditate. She sat down cross legged and sighed as she closed her eyes and willed herself to be on the floor of the construction site. Her eyes unconsciously opened as her astral projection form was on the floor but she quickly ducked when she noticed that she wasn't alone. The Foot Clan were all there fighting some type of blue-haired beast. She narrowed her eyes as she wondered what type of animal it was. She turned around just in time to see Mikey and Raph come up onto the floor and join her to see the show.

"Bad news is, this thing is gonna run out of bodies soon" Donnie was saying.

"Yeah, so? You think we should help these guys?" Mikey turned to the eldest Turtle, "I'd rather enjoy the show. What do you say, fearless leader?"

"We're not-"

"I say we stop talking"

Raph let out a yell as he charged to the blue-haired beast. Xena smiled as she jumped over the cement powder and ran with the Turtles over to the mysterious creature. Xena took out her mugai ryu and hit the beast behind his leg. He turned and roared at Xena as Mikey jumped and gave him a kick.

"Come here, fuzzy wuzzy" Mikey yelled out.

Xena moved out of the way as the beast was about to lose his footing and nearly crush her leg. The adrenaline she felt coursing through her was something that she had long since forgotten. She hit the beast in the side before she moved away so he couldn't see her as the other Turtles tried to fight him off. Xena waved out her hand and wanted the beast to stop fighting and calm down but nothing happened. She tried again but the beast just swatted Mikey away and not even notice that Xena was trying to control it.

"What's the matter?" Donnie asked.

"Whatever this thing is, it's not an animal from this place" Xena responded.

Raph yelled behind his shell, "Hey, little help, O fearless one"

The beast lost his footing and fell through the floor as Raph cheered on, "That was too easy"

Xena heard a roar as the beast jumped back up onto their floor, "Like I said, too easy"

Xena noticed that the beast was about to pummel her with both of his hands when she felt something hit her roughly away from the injury that she could've sustained. She groaned a little as the turtle moved off from her, Xena looked up to see Leo was the one that saved her. He reached out his hand to help her up, but Xena picked herself up from the ground and moved to help the others. She only got in a few hits before the creature fell through the floor once again, leaving Xena and Raph alone.

"Oh, my shoulder" Mikey yelled out as he went through another floor, "My spleen!"

Raph looked to her and commanded, "Meet you on the ground floor?"

Xena nodded as she felt herself fade away and wake up on the ground floor. She felt the ground shake as the beast and the Turtles came closer to her. Raph appeared beside her as they waited until the beast fell to the ground as Mikey, Leo, and Donnie tumbled near Raph and Xena.

"This place needed a skylight" Raph joked.

The beast started to walk toward them as Xena turned and noticed there was a dead end behind them with bunch of poles as some kind of sick twisted minefield. Xena tried again to control the beast but he still kept on coming. Xena let out a groan as she realized that she could astral project herself out of this situation but she wasn't too much in a hurry to leave the turtles to their fate.

Mikey commented, "This is why we need jetpacks"

"Okay, any more bright ideas?"

"How about this?"

Mikey jumped onto Donnie and screamed from the top of his lungs before debris came crashing down on the group. Xena sharply inhaled as she noticed that she was back on the rooftop with a sharp headache. In her astral form, she is technically weaker in that state, so whenever she gets knocked out or even sustains a cut, she'll return to her actual body. She groaned as she heard the police coming, making the teenager perk up and run over to the side.

She could see that the turtles were running freely over to the nearest manhole. Xena looked around but couldn't even see where the beast ran off to. She glanced back down and noticed Donnie gave her a little wave before he jumped down as a police car drove down the street. Xena sighed as she turned and started to make her way back over to the turtles lair, hopefully getting there before Leo does and taking Aidan before he even has the chance to look at him.


	8. Raw Emotions

Xena sighed she absentmindedly changed Aidan's diaper, her mind kept on replaying in her head how she saw Leo. She could still hear him say that he didn't want to see his own son after finding out that he was a father. It crushed her internally on how everyone stepped up to be something in Aidan's life, even Raph, and yet the one person he needs the most, says he doesn't want to see him right away. Xena rolled her eyes as she threw away the diaper and washed her hands as she scrubbed really hard, not noticing that the water was on hot and her hands were turning red. The water suddenly turned off with April by her side.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, just a bad shift at work" Xena lied.

"Is that why you came home late last night?" April asked, "I thought when you text me you said you were exhausted"

Xena shrugged, "I had to blow off some steam"

Casey looked up from the living room, "That bad, huh?"

Xena nodded as she looked down to Aidan in his arms, how completely innocent he was. If Leo only glanced at him for one second, he would fall head over heels for the little guy as well. She knew she was supposed to tell April and Casey that Leo's back but she couldn't let them know. They will immediately ask if he saw Aidan and what did he say. How could she tell Casey and April that Leo didn't want to see Aidan?

"You're wearing a suit" Xena stated.

"We have another dealer who wants to retrieve something" April explained, "You should come and see what we do"

Xena scoffed, "And who's going to take care of Aidan?"

Casey offered, "Let Splinter and the Turtles take him again"

"No" Xena quickly said before she explained, "Thanks but I kind of want to be with my son"

"Alright" April said, "We might be home a little bit later but do you want us to drop by and get something?"

"I'm okay" Xena waved off.

Casey suggested, "What about pizza?"

Xena glared, "That's not funny"

April rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, "We'll keep in touch"

Xena only nodded as April and her boyfriend left the apartment, making the building seem bigger and quieter than it usually is. She heard a squeal as she walked over to Aidan and picked him up off of his playmat. She stared at Aidan for a while before she walked over to the couch and held him in her arms. Just a couple of months ago, Aidan would've loved this treatment and would want to snuggle with her. Now at 11 months, he wanted nothing more than to explore on his own.

"We don't need him" Xena mumbled in a baby tone to her son.

"We don't need daddy" She picked him up so he was standing on her stomach, "He hasn't been around anyways so what's the point?"

"We got Grandpa Splinter, Uncle Raphy, Uncle Donnie, Auntie April, Uncle Casey, and Uncle Mikey" Xena named off the people in his life, "But most of all, we got mommy"

Xena smiled to herself, "Yeah, mommy's the best! Team mommy"

Aidan squealed as he started to stomp on her stomach, "Alright, alright, I'll put you down"

"Just wanted you to root for my team, you know" Xena told him.

A knock suddenly came on her door, making Xena straighten up a bit. She glanced down to her son as she knew the playmat wasn't visible from the doorway. Xena cautiously walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. She smirked, rolled her eyes, and opened up the door to see a huge turtle with an oversized head. He did his goofy laugh and said his saying before the 'costume' came in and took off his humongous head and placed it by the door as Xena closed it.

Xena folded her arms over her chest, "What are you doing here, Mikey?"

"I'm free for, like, an hour before my next gig" Mikey told her, "I thought I'd swing by and see how my little dude and dudette were doing"

Xena smiled as he made his way over to the baby, "At least _you're_ happy to see him"

Mikey placed Aidan on Mikey's feet and started to move him up and down, "Oh, yeah, I totally heard what Leo said about Aidan. Raph blurted it out to everyone during breakfast… right before we got in trouble by Splinter"

"So he saw the news report, I'm assuming" Xena cringed as Mikey nodded.

She watched as Mikey and Aidan continued to play together as she suddenly felt a little bit better of the current situation. Who cares if Leo didn't want to see his son right away, at least Aidan had people in his life that would squeeze in just a little bit of time to see him. Ever since she found out she was pregnant, it was Mikey who seemed to step up and become a true friend to her even though she had to exclude herself from all the friends she had from school. Mikey actually made sure to give her food other than the junk food he usually ate… until Aidan was born, of course.

Mikey brightened up, "Oh, yeah! Splinter wants you to come over for dinner tomorrow"

Xena woke up from her trance, "What? Why?"

Mikey shrugged, "You didn't give Leo a chance to see his son"

"Leo doesn't **want** to see his son" Xena reminded her friend.

"He was surprised that you didn't wait for us" Mikey let on.

"Doesn't matter, I'm too busy anyways" Xena folded her arms over her chest.

Mikey replied, "You do remember that Don's got your work schedule **and** college schedule, he even said that tomorrow would work perfectly for you"

Xena scoffed, "Doesn't mean I want to go"

"Not even when it means you're keeping sensei's only grandson away from him?" Mikey said slowly.

"I hate you sometimes, Mikey" Xena glared, "But if Leo rejects him one more time than I'm out of there!"

Mikey responded softly, "He won't because he'll see what he's been missing out on, don't worry about it! It takes Leo a while to come around when things like this happen. Trust me, no one can resist this little green dude when clearly he gets the good looks from his favorite uncle!"

Xena smirked, "You think he got his good looks from Donnie?"

Mikey stopped playing with Aidan and looked over to Xena, "I hate you sometimes"

"You _love_ to hate me" Xena giggled as she threw a toy at Mikey's face.


	9. Love Tragedy

Leo stared down at the picture from in the dojo, not knowing how he could've possibly missed this. The picture was of Xena smiling as she held a baby in her lap. The baby had something in his mouth and clearly was drooling all over the place. Judging by the Christmas tree in the background and the gift wrappings around her, he could tell this was taken during Christmas. He noticed how the green babies hair was the same color as Xena's but he also noticed the babies glowing amber eyes. The same that was reflecting from the picture from that belonged to his eyes.

How could this have happened? Why didn't anyone tell him. And here he was certain that Casey would've told him about this before hand. Was this really the price that he had to pay? He left behind a girlfriend and now he returns with a son.

He could feel his heartbeat pumping out of his shell as he stared at the picture. He was wearing a blue onesie as well. Most likely wasn't for coincidence in this picture, Xena would've placed it on him in order to keep Leo in mind. She even told him that while he was gone, she was going to wear mostly blue until he returned.

"Aidan" Leo slowly said, "She named him Aidan. I have a _son_ named Aidan. Aidan is... my son"

"It means little fire" Leo jumped and turned around, "If you wanted to know"

Donnie had somehow had opened the door and was standing in the dojo as well. Leo felt like kicking himself as he realized he let his defenses down for too long. Normally he would've been able to sense when someone was in the room.

Leo glanced back down to his hands and realized he still was holding the picture. He quickly turned around and placed it back on the table before he faced his brother.

"Little fire, huh?" Leo said, "Sounds like something she would pick"

Donnie smiled a little bit as Leo tried to mirror it.

Leo wanted to say that he was okay but if he had to be honest than he wasn't. It wasn't just coming back to New York and finding about Aidan that hurt him but just another shift. Xena used to be known to him as being quirky, gentle, and friendly. He was waiting for her to run over to him, jump into his arms, and bury her head into his neck as she used to. He wasn't expecting to be waiting for her to come up to him, still waiting for that one touch where Xena found inviting. He guessed the joke was really on him for having not returning when he should've.

Donnie spoke up, "She'll come around. She's just being protective"

"You think?" Leo scoffed.

Donnie shrugged, "Yeah, I mean, she was missing you a week ago. You must've said something that upset her. But she'll come around"

Leo nodded absentmindedly. He knew he messed up big time with Xena and Aidan but what about his brothers? He did notice how the four of them seemed to be incredibly distant. Even Donnie and Mikey which he was sad to say upset him. Did his absence really affect them that much?

Leo asked, "I guess you were there when... Aidan was... born"

Donnie quickly took in a breath as he remembered the day almost as clear as yesterday. No one was prepared for that day at all. It was insane and Donnie wasn't prepared to play doctor but he did as much as he could. He should pride himself now since both of his patients are here today.

"We all were" Donnie answered.

 _All except me._ Came the thought in Leo's mind. He let out a frustrated sigh as he turned and gave space between him and Donnie.

The purple-clad ninja couldn't help but feel bad for his eldest brother. This isn't something he is used to, letting someone he loves down.

"What did I miss?" Leo asked, "This is all my fault! I knew she had something important to say when she was trying to speak to me telepathically"

"It's alright" Donnie quickly said, "You're here now and you can make up for the time lost"

"It's not going to be easy" Leo mumbled, "Especially with her"

"Sure it will be" Donnie let out, "I mean,yeah, you missed 11 months of his life but that's okay. It's better than 11 years, right? Besides, 11 months is nothing to a baby. They don't even start remembering long term during that age"

Leo shook his head, "Doesn't make an excuse as to why I didn't return when I said I was going to"

Donnie looked to his brother as he realized how torn he was about his past decision. He wished that he could send a mental image over to Xena right now to show how guilty Leo really was.

Donnie cautiously asked, "Why did you? I'm curious. It's not like you to do something like that, Leo. Did something happen over there?"

"I'll tell you" Leo said, surprising Donnie as he turned to him, "But this stays between us, alright? I don't want anyone else to know unless I'm ready for them to hear it. You got it?"

Donnie nodded as Leo sat down cross-legged as Donnie did the same in front of him, Leo took a second as he sighed, opened his mouth and began to tell his story.


	10. Halfway Gone

"So are you doing anything tonight?"

"Going out to eat dinner with my… boyfriend's family" Xena felt her stomach turn like a washing machine, "He came back from his trip at the beginning of the week"

"Wow, I didn't even know you had a boyfriend" PJ said, with a slight defeated look on his face, "You never mention him. All you ever mention is your son but you never show any of us pictures. The way you mention your boyfriend makes me feel like you're not too pleased with going. Do you want out of the situation?"

Xena mentally rolled her eyes as she was well aware of PJ's feelings for her, "No, I feel like I should go. He hasn't seen his… son in a long time so he should see him. Thanks anyways"

PJ smiled, "Text me if things get awkward, I'll be by my phone"

Xena gave him a forced grin, "I'm sure you will. Most likely going to ask about our English midterm. It's not too hard of a subject. Just look over the notes I gave you"

PJ only nodded to her as he agreed with what she said as Xena zoned out. She liked PJ as a friend but the constant asking out was making her really wish she could tell him the truth. Not to freak him out or anything but just to make the guy back off and think of her as weird. Xena nodded when PJ looked to her to see if she was listening. She took a glance over to her phone and notice that she should start heading home if she wanted to take Aidan off of her cousin's hands in order for her to do her work. A thought suddenly made her perk up as she heard one of their friends thoughts in the distance.

Arianna's voice said through her head, " _It's PJ! Oh, and Xena. I should just casually go up to them and see what's up, I hope she didn't accept going on PJ's studying session. He's been telling everybody about how he and Xena went on a date"_

"What?!" Xena blurted out as PJ looked down to her.

PJ repeated, "I said Mr. Gold can be a bit pushy with his deadlines"

"Hey, guys!" Arianna beamed as she came up to them.

"Hey, Arianna. How's everything?" Xena ignored PJ to keep herself from demanding why he told everyone a lie.

"Nothing really, I just was about to go to the library to study up on our dreadful midterm for next week" Arianna replied in a dramatic tone.

Xena perked up, "That's perfect timing actually! PJ was talking about how he needed some help with some of the notes he missed! I would love to but I have to go to a dinner with my boyfriend's family"

Arianna seemed both surprised and happy to hear the B word come out of Xena's mouth. For once, Xena was happy to have that word come out smoothly for Arianna as well. PJ, on the other hand, looked like he could use a bus to run him over right about now. Xena didn't care as she finally found a way out of this mess, for now. She smiled as she hoped PJ was kicking himself for boasting to everyone in their study group about their "date" last time.

"Oh! I didn't know you had a boyfriend" Arianna was saying.

Xena nodded, "He was studying abroad in Central America for a while but now he's back"

Arianna cooed, "That's great! I didn't know that people are coming back from studying abroad midway through the semester"

"Yeah, well, he decided to stay a little while longer" Xena lied.

PJ finally spoke up, "You seemed awkward about it earlier, are you sure you don't want to join us?"

Xena said in a firm voice, "I'm positive"

" _Weird. She's never mentioned her boyfriend who just so happens to be the father of her kid until today. She doesn't even show us pictures of her baby anyways. I wonder if she really has a kid in the first place. Xena really throws out a lot just to make excuses for not hanging around us. I wonder if it's because of Ian…"_ PJ's voice droned on and on.

"So what do you want to cover, PJ?" Arianna asked as she turned to him.

"We can do this a different time if you're too busy, I feel like I need to overlook everything" PJ lied.

Xena felt her vision zone out as she saw four walking statues roaming freely throughout the streets of New York. Chaos was roaming around them as burning cars and smashed windows were everywhere. She heard a war cry that was familiar to her as Raph jumped down from nowhere charging at the four statues in a rage that Xena didn't find familiar. The anger clouded up his mind so much that Raph wasn't aware of how careless he was as a stone blade drove into him from the side.

Arianna yelled out, "Hello, Xena! You okay?"

Xena blinked a little bit, "What?"

PJ spoke up, "You dazed out but then looked scared of something"

Xena waved it off, "I just realized that I need to go home. I need to run an errand before tonight"

"Okay, we'll see you soon" Arianna said slowly.

"Don't forget to text us" PJ said hopefully.

Xena turned and didn't answer him as she didn't even want to give him a slight glimmer of hope. She felt sick to her stomach at what she saw, she's never seen death before this one. Her mind kept on replaying how angry and driven Raph was to destroying the statues, which only meant that something happened to his family in order to drive him that furious.

"I have to try and reach out to him" Xena mumbled as she called the Turtles' home.

"What's up dude, this is Cowa-"

"Mikey! Is Raph there?"

Mikey cheered up, "Oh, Xena! What's up, girl?"

"Is Raph there, Mikey" Xena repeated again.

"Nah, he stormed out about 10 minutes ago, why do you wanna leave a message?" Mikey asked.

Xena sighed as she mumbled, "No, I guess I can talk to him at dinner tonight"

Mikey yelled out, "Alright, cool! Dinner's at 7 and come earlier! We wanna see the little dude… oh, and you also"

"Don't worry, I'll be there" Xena mumbled.

"Might I also suggest that you be a little bit happier also" Mikey whispered into the phone, "We already got one Raph, we don't need him in a psychic human form"

Xena rolled her eyes as she saw Casey's car that she borrowed in the distance. She took out the keys as she tried to make a mental note before seeing Leo again.

"Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior" Xena promised.

"That's my sis!" Mikey yelled through the phone, "See you before 7!"

Xena replied, "Yeah, see you"

* * *

Xena trudged through the sewers, not really too hurried to get over to the lair anytime soon. It's been a whole month since she's heard from Leo both from his last letter and last communication. She absentmindedly rubbed her barely protruding stomach under her large sweater that she borrows from Casey. It hurt and confused her as to why Leo hasn't been back when he told everyone that he was coming home. She remembered the destroyed look on Splinter's face when he finally got a hold of Usagi who told them that Leo left nearly two weeks before. That was when Leo wrote saying his final goodbye, to everyone, not to her in a separate letter as he used to.

A sharp pain in her lower abdomen suddenly made her hiss out as she threw herself onto the side of the wall. Xena stood there confused as she felt her stomach, never had she experienced that feeling before. At first, she thought it was nothing and decided to walk a couple more steps until the pain came back again but this time, it sent her down to her knees. Xena let out a terrible scream as she clutched her stomach, praying that it will stop. Her breath came in at jagged pieces as she tried to move but the pain was too much to bear.

"No…" Xena whimpered, "What's happening?!"

Donnie was walking through the sewers on his way home from one of the junkyards not too far away to pick up some tools he could eventually use. A shrill scream echoed through the sewers, making Donnie drop the trash bag of equipment and pull out his bo staff. He cautiously and quickly went to the sound but then recognized the girl's voice screaming, "Help me!" Donnie quickly ran over to Xena's side as she was laying flat on the ground.

Donnie was about to assess her when Xena reached out and grabbed onto his hand as she looked to him with tearstained eyes, "The baby's coming!"

"What?!" April let out when Donnie relayed the message as he held the crumpling teen in his arms, "That can't be! She's only six months pregnant"

"What do we do?! What do we do!" Mikey yelled out repeatedly.

"We need to get her to the hospital!"

"No! What if the baby looks like us? She'll be all over the news within 40 minutes of giving birth"

"We need to deliver it here then"

"Here?!"

"Well, do you have a better idea?"

"Enough!"

Everyone, with the exception of Xena, quieted down as they all looked to Master Splinter for guidance.

He turned to Raph, "Raphael, you are the strongest, take Xena into the dojo. Quickly, but also gently"

Raph nodded as he picked up Xena off of the ground as she screamed painfully from being moved once again as Master Splinter looked over to Mikey.

"Get all of the spare bedding materials as fast as you can, Michelangelo!" Master Splinter turned to Donnie, "You will get all the other equipment that you will need that you have read upon for giving home birthing, Donatello"

"Casey, get water; one in a big bowl and a tall glass for Xena to drink out of" Master Splinter instructed, "April, you will get the wash cloths and join me in the dojo"

When the equipments were all brought together and laid out, Master Splinter ordered for Donnie and April to stay in the dojo with him as Casey, Mikey, and Raph stayed out. The waiting was horrendous for the three waiting outside. The screaming, pleading, and muffled words just made the other three wish they could do more to help. Two hours later, the screaming stopped as the three glanced to one another wondering what happened in the room next door. That was before they all heard a healthy cry come from the dojo as April came out holding a tiny green baby in her arms. The other three quickly came over and smiled down at the baby as he cried freely and loudly.

"Well, would you look at that" Raph chuckled, "The little guy is the first turtle to ever have hair"

Mikey smiled, "He's so tiny!"

"How's Xena?" Casey asked.

"Weak, the stress took out a lot from her. She wasn't even ready to give birth at six months" April told him.

"Why did she? What happened?" Casey asked.

Donnie came out just in time as he wiped his hands with a towel, "I think it's because it made it's own birthing cycle. For a turtle, he stayed longer than usual but for a human that range was a lot shorter and considering how he is both, he had to compromise for being both creatures"

"So what happens now?" Mikey asked what was on everyone's mind.

"Now" Master Splinter said from the door, "We try to get the mother back to full health"


	11. Dinner and a Legend

Donnie was the one Turtle waiting as the brinks pulled apart, "Hello! You came right at 7"

"I got held up" Xena replied as she stepped into the home.

Donnie shrugged, "It's alright, we're all here"

Xena looked over Donnie's shell, "Where's Raph?"

Donnie hesitated, "Yes, well, all except him… he had a little blow up yet again and most likely won't be joining us"

"I was really hoping to talk to him" Xena replied as she followed Donnie down the stairs.

Leo appeared out of nowhere, "Talk to who?"

Xena answered, "Raph. You guys didn't have a fight again, did you?"

"He was still talking about hunting down that mysterious monster that we found the other night" Leo explained.

Xena nodded as a sinking feeling happened in her stomach once again. She knew that her vision won't happen anytime soon, Raph looked a bit older and tired in her premonition. She looked up and noticed that Leo was staring down at Aidan in her arms, he looked a little bit surprised and that's when Xena remembered that this was actually the first time he was looking at his own son. Xena shifted uncomfortably as she cradled her son, unaware of the new Turtle in the room. Instead, Aidan let out a scream and throw up his hands just behind Leo. He turned and noticed that Master Splinter entered the room and walked over to him with a big smile on his face.

"Gran-pa!" Aidan blurted out.

"He talks?" Leo let out with his eyes nearly wide out of their sockets.

Donnie answered, "Only one word sentences, he sometimes repeats the last word you say as well"

Xena handed off Aidan to Master Splinter as she wrapped her arms around Donnie's arm, "All thanks to Professor Donatello, here. But I still stand by what I told you in the beginning. You're not going to let him anywhere near your Tech Lab"

Donnie sighed, "Oh, come on! You need to have that brilliant mind grow and flourish upon itself"

"I agree with Xena" Leo spoke up, "It's too dangerous in your lab"

Mikey yelled from the kitchen, "Honey… time for dinner!"

Xena let go of Donnie's arm as she followed the rat to the dinner table as she mumbled, "Saved by the youngest"

"Nice to see _you_ came on time" Mikey said once he saw Xena, "Didn't I say come a little bit earlier?"

Xena only gave him a small shrug and smile as she sat down at the table. She couldn't tell Mikey about her vision, she knew it would scare him. She lost track of time as she tried to research those stone statues and mysterious portals to the point that she hadn't realized she was close to missing dinner. It would be best if she kept this away from the Turtle family so that way she won't upset them. Xena served a small bowl for Aidan as she cut up the noodles and placed the bowl near her so that way she could serve him.

"So has he started to walk?" Leo asked.

Xena answered, "No. He only stands and takes a few steps before falling"

"Once he starts walking, I'm totally buying him a skateboard" Mikey let out.

Xena scoffed, "Says you!"

Mikey turned to her, "Chicks dig the skateboards, Xena, especially with skateboarding around the sewer"

"It's dangerous" Xena put in.

"So when are you going to let him learn ninjutsu?" Mikey challenged, "It's a family tradition"

Xena shook her head, "Not with you as his teacher"

Master Splinter spoke up, "Why not Leonardo?"

"Leo?"

"Me?"

"Of course! I taught my son all that I need to know, why not he do the same with Aidan?" Master Splinter explained.

Leo finally said, "I would only do it if Xena thinks it's time"

Xena looked up, at a loss for words as everyone stared at her, waiting for some type of answer, as she said, "I'll think about it. But not anytime soon. I don't want him to be four years old waving a katana around when I come here to pick him up"

Everyone chuckled at the joke as Leo missed it, still noticing how guarded Xena was to him. Whenever she talked, she talked to anyone but him unless he asked her a question or two. It went like this throughout the entire dinner as he watched how she alternated between feeding herself and helping Aidan. Her smile was so big and bright and only for her son… his son… _their_ child.

"My compliments to the chef" Mikey let out once everyone was done eating before he let out a long burp making Xena roll her eyes and grimace in disgust as Donnie went to get the phone, "Anyone for dessert?"

"No"

"Yes"

"Cowabunga Carl Party Services. Cowabunga, dude" Donnie said before he suddenly stopped.

"Well, Xena, which one do you want? The chocolate mousse again?"

"Slow down, April" Xena perked up, "What happened to Raph?"

Xena turned to the youngest Turtle, "Maybe later. I need to know what happened to Raph"

"We'll be right there" Donnie told her.

Leo suggested, "Maybe you should stay here"

Xena turned to him, "You've been gone for a while, Leo, we don't live in the same apartment complex anymore"

"She's right" Donnie told him when Leo looked over to his brother.

Xena opened up the window from the outside and slipped in as Donnie carried Aidan with him as they came inside. April looked up and then brightened up when she looked over Xena's shoulder. She knew that Leo was coming in as she took the baby from Donnie so that he could assess the turtle on the ground.

April smiled, "Leo! You came back!"

Casey cheered, "Leo!"

Leo looked confused as he glanced over to Xena, "She didn't tell you?"

April looked over to Xena, "No… have you been back for a while?"

"For five days" Leo told her.

"Five days?" April muttered before she turned to Xena, "The day when your closing shift had you in a bad mood five days ago?"

"I guess it slipped my mind to say that he's back" Xena shrugged.

"Anyways, sorry the reunion isn't under better circumstances" Leo went on.

Mikey walked by his unconscious brother, "Hey, Raph"

Donnie started to mumble to himself, "Well, his vital signs seem to be okay. Pupil dilation is normal- Woah!"

Xena gasped when she noticed some kind of ancient stone star stuck inside Raph's shell as Donnie took it out, "Some sort of stone. Probably obsidian, I think"

"Well, is he gonna be alright?" Leo knelt down and placed a hand on Raph's shoulder.

"You're still here? Go back to your jungle" Raph mumbled as he swatted Leo's hand away.

Leo glanced over his shoulder, "Well, at least his personality's still intact"

"There's an engraving on it. Looks South American" Donnie looked over to April, "That's your department, April"

Casey leaned in, "Would it help if I told you that those statues you collected for Winters were shooting these things at me and Raph?"

"Statues?" Xena whispered out, causing Leo to glance over to her but Xena had to keep herself composed so that she didn't want to explain her recent vision of hers.

April let out, "The legend of Yoatl. It can't be. It was just a myth a scary story the locals told kids around a campfire"

"Whoa, what are you talking about?" Leo asked.

April explained, "They say 3,000 years ago, some great warrior actually found a portal to another dimension. And when the portal opened the energy from it gave the warrior eternal life. But it also turned his generals into stone"

Xena stepped in and asked, "What if this warrior kept living forever? He would spend the rest of his days in regret spending all his riches and all of his power to find a way to revive his stone generals"

April nodded, "Maybe, just maybe he's built a new empire"

Xena glanced up to the clock and noticed that it was past Aidan's bedtime as she walked over to her room to tuck him in. She quickly changed his diaper and put on his pajamas before tucking him into bed. She picked up a teddy bear which was holding a pink heart in both of it's paws as her heart felt heavy as her breathing became labored as she remembered where she got it from.

* * *

Xena twirled her pen around and around as she tried to finish the last of her study guide. She felt completely drained after taking a hard test earlier this afternoon and her celebratory gift to herself was studying for yet another test. Her eyes started to droop as she dropped her pen and rubbed her eyes to try and fight off the sleep. When she opened her eyes, she let out a gasp as a certain blue-clad turtle was on the fire escape smiling and waving at her. Xena instantly felt better as she unlocked the window, opened it up halfway before she turned around to lock her door. Xena turned to see that Leo had already closed her window and placed his twin katanas down by her bedside, a motion he's been doing ever since the first night he came into her room.

"What's up?" Xena asked.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your test" Leo told her, "Donnie said that you've been bugging him about tutoring you"

Xena sighed, "Well, I won't know until Tuesday"

Leo looked a little bit taken aback as he replied, "Oh, well, that's kind of a long ways away"

Xena narrowed her eyes, "Why did you ask?"

"I was hoping you would say that you passed and all, but I believe you did" Leo smiled as he moved slightly.

"You have something behind your shell" Xena cut to the chase.

"Yeah, I do, but I think it'd be best if I give it to you later" Leo responded.

Xena brightened up, "It's a gift! Show me!"

Leo moved backwards as if he was ashamed to give it to her but Xena sighed as she waved out her hand. Leo suddenly straightened up as he walked over to her, against his will as he took out a wrapped up bundle from behind his shell. Xena waved her fingers a little bit, like as if she was a puppet master, making Leo unwrap the gift to reveal a brown teddy bear holding a pink heart in it's paws. She smiled as she also noticed that Leo had stuffed into it's arms her favorite brand of chocolate in a party bag. She reached out, grabbed it, and held it to her chest as Leo suddenly loosened up from being under her control.

"I hate it whenever you do that" Leo scolded her.

"Well then you should've listened to me in the first place" Xena rocked herself back and forth, "I love it"

Leo blinked in response, "You- you do?"

Xena playfully pushed him, "Of course, I do! I think it's really sweet!"

Leo smiled, "You're welcome"

They both stayed quiet for a while as Xena couldn't help but feel a blush rise to her cheeks. There's a new and a bit alarming feeling that she's been fighting down and that's that she's starting to have feelings for Leo, a turtle. She kept on noticing how often he came over, actually, he's the only one who comes over to her house to be with her. She asked Raph one time why he doesn't visit and he only said because Leo never tells them where Xena lives, which she doesn't believe that because she was sure Leo would tell his brothers if they really did want to see Xena in the first place.

"I should probably get going" Leo broke the silence.

"Really?" Xena asked, "But you only just got here"

Leo shrugged, "Well, you're busy right now. I'd rather come over when you don't have school looming over your shoulders. I can stop by this weekend if you want me to"

Xena reached out and grabbed onto his hand, "Wait"

Leo tensed up from the feeling of her soft, small hand on top of his. He swallowed and looked down to their hands for a split second before he looked back up to her eyes. She gave him a weak smile as she dropped his hand and placed a strand of red hair behind her ear.

She asked, "I'm in the need of celebrating my great victory, wanna join?"

"Okay… what will we be doing?" Leo asked slowly.

Xena smiled as she brought up the bag he bought for her, "We can start by eating chocolate and listening to music"

Leo smiled back as he took the bag of chocolate from her hand as she cradled the teddy bear with her other arm, he smirked to her and said, "Alright… but I get to pick the music this time"

* * *

Xena walked back into the room, rubbing the back of her neck as April was saying, "But, hey, like I said, it's just a myth"

Donnie was saying by the table, "If you ask me, guys, this has Winters' name written all over it"

Xena turned to him, "How do you figure that, Donnie?"

"Yeah"

"Because this has Winters' name written all over it" Donnie showed them the tranquilizer.

"Now I know who to thank for this shot in the arm" Raph replied as she realized that now he was up and moving, "So where do we find this guy and his stone jokers?"

Leo interrupted, "We're not going anywhere until we get Splinter's blessing"

"You're gonna stand here and quote a rulebook to me that you ain't been following for a year?" Raph jumped up as he yelled out to his eldest brother.

"Look, Raph, if you got something you wanna get off your shell, now's the time" Leo yelled back, "But I'm not gonna stand here and debate Splinter's direct orders with you!"

Everyone was silent for a split second before Aidan's cries were heard from the other room, making Xena sigh tiredly, "Wonderful… just when I got him to go to bed"

Xena walked into the other room as April followed, "Why don't you go back to the other room, Xena? You've been through alot lately. Maybe you should just sit back down on the couch and I'll take care of Aidan right now"

"No thanks, I'm going to bed anyways" Xena told her cousin as she picked up her crying child and closed the door on her cousin's confused face.


	12. Vision Talk

The Nightwatcher jumped up onto a nearby rooftop as it overlooked the city. He was still fuming from his recent fight with Leo, it bothered him so much that he felt hot in the suit. His senses picked up something as he turned around just in time to see a very blue shade of purple aura appear out of nowhere in the shape of a human before it materialized into Xena. Raph rolled his eyes as he jumped down from the ledge and pulled off his helmet to reveal himself to her. Xena was the only person who knew about him being the Nightwatcher, it was her idea after all for him to become a vigilante. She only walked a few paces before she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You weren't at the dinner tonight" Xena started, "And then you sulk off before I even have the chance to talk to you"

"If you really wanted to talk to me that badly then why didn't you send a message telepathically like you usually do to your precious boyfriend?"

Xena rolled her eyes, "Right, and when's the last time you meditated?"

"Fair enough" Raph shrugged, "So what's the message? Kind of busy tonight so try and make it quick"

Xena inhaled deeply, "I had a vision of those four statues you came across but you lost in the battle… and I mean impaled by a stone blade lost"

"Well, thanks for telling me **after** I met up with those brainless stone zombies" Raph let out through gritted teeth, "Trust me, if I ever see them again they will be sorry for knocking me out with their little good night darts"

"There's more, Raph" Xena told him, "Something must've happened before you met up with them because you were too angry to even think about fighting like a ninja. You were fighting like you wanted to inflict damage on something. I really don't want to say this outloud but I believe that something happened to the family in order for you to seek out those stone generals alone. Unless there's another reason why you would go on a Wolverine Rampage as you did in my vision then I don't know what else would send you over the edge like that"

Raph took in what Xena said as he cast his eyes down to the ground, her visions were only rarely wrong. They would have to do a great deal to stop the stone generals before she would see her vision come true. He thought about Mikey skateboarding down the sewer, Donnie busy working on his computers, and Leo training in the dojo. If anything, something was going to happen to his brothers and that was what Xena was hinting at. Raph turned back to the city as he processed what the psychic had told him.

"Does anyone else know about this?"

"Only you"

"Good, then I'll just finish up tonight and then we'll work on your vision" Raph told her.

"Work on it? How?" Xena asked.

Raph turned to her, "We can't let them get involved with the stone generals, only us. Our family's lives are at stake here, _Aidan's_ life is at stake"

Xena sighed as she looked into Raph's desperate eyes. He may not show it often, but he cares deeply for his brothers and his nephew. Still, she was even scared of going up against 3,000 year old statues. She nodded reluctantly as Raph seemed to calm down.

Raph changed the subject, "So what happened at the dinner?"

"Just Leo trying to catch up with the things he missed out on with his son. He still hasn't even tried to hold him yet" Xena looked over to Raph, "And then you were found unconscious and that's where you're all caught up"

Raph gave a side nod, "I also heard April when she was surprised on how Leo came back. Why didn't you tell them?"

Xena formed her jaw, "I don't think I want to talk about that"

"Too bad"

"Because I always think that this is just some kind of big joke" Xena paced as she kicked a coke can away from her, "With Aidan here, Leo being more than reluctant to step in as a father just makes me think that he'll jump back on a plane and leave again"

Xena shrugged, "I guess apart of me wants him to"

"Really?"

"I don't know"

Raph watched as the human stared off into the distance, unaware that she had tears forming in her eyes. Raph has been giving Leo a hard time for all that he's been missing out on but Xena actually couldn't stop giving him a rough time. What she's doing is to protect the one thing Leo left behind.

Raph spoke up, "Nah, I think you still love him"

Xena shook her head, "I don't love him"

"Keep telling yourself that"

"Why?"

"Because that proves that even you can't deny it" Raph told her.

"Since when did you become Splinter Jr?" Xena teased.

Raph grimaced at the nickname, making Xena let out a laugh. She knew well that it was Raph's favorite nickname for Leo and to have it being used on him just made the joke of the name grow cold.

Raph picked up his helmet, "I should get going"

Xena nodded before she hesitated, "Raph?"

"What?"

"Be careful"

"Don't worry, I'll avoid those statues if I even see them tonight" Raph told her before he disappeared into the night.


	13. Savin' Me

Xena sighed as she pressed backspace on her laptop and continued to search through the pages on google. She glanced over to her notes that she's been writing up since her visit with Raph on the rooftop. Her pen twirled in her hand as she tried to find a way to somehow defeat the stone generals but wasn't really coming up with anything. She heard a tap on the window, making Xena perk up and turn around to see Leo knocking. Her breath was caught in her throat as she glanced over to the crib, wanting to ignore him. But instead, she walked over to the window, unlocked it, and allowed him in.

Leo smiled, "Thanks"

Xena crossed her arms over her chest, "What do you want?"

"Have you seen where Raph went off to?" Leo asked, clearly hurt that she still was stonewalling him, "I've tried looking around for him but can't find him. Can you pick up on him somewhere with your control?"

Xena huffed, "You know it doesn't work like that. Sensing where an animal is and controlling them are two different things. You should know that by now"

"Right" Leo nodded, "Of course. I forgot. I just thought that you would like to help out, you know? Sorry. I'm gonna leave now"

Xena nodded as she said sarcastically, "Hope you find him"

Leo froze in place as his hand remained on the handle, he couldn't take this anymore. He couldn't take Xena always being cold to him when he remembered and yearned for the teenager he fell in love with. Master Splinter was right; their shaky relationship was causing a struggle for Aidan. He realized now that the reason why he was staring at Xena and Aidan so much was because he wanted to be apart of that. He _wanted_ to be Aidan's father and Xena's boyfriend.

Xena said from behind him, "What did you lose Mikey and Donnie too?"

"No, but I think we should talk" Leo told her.

"I have nothing to say to you" Xena turned around to go back to her desk.

Leo responded, "If you don't want to talk to me for our relationship then that's fine, but at least try to hear me out for our son. Please"

Xena turned back around and walked over to him so that she wouldn't wake Aidan, "Our son? He isn't _our_ son, he's **my** son. I've changed every diaper, soothed every fever, and endured every tantrum while you were on your vacation"

Leo whispered back, "Because I didn't know you were pregnant. I didn't think it would be possible. Believe me, if I knew you were pregnant, I would've came back. You know I would do that in a heartbeat. Why are you acting like this? I'm trying to pick up the pieces here and you refuse to let me in"

Xena let out, "Because there is nothing left to pick up, Leo, you made the decision a year ago to not only abandon your family but neglect me also and in the process you shut Aidan out!"

A slight cry was heard from the crib as both Leo and Xena turned around to look at the crib, expecting to see the baby pop up. The crib moved only a little bit as Aidan stretched and went back to sleep. Xena exhaled as she rubbed the bridge of her nose as exhaustion took over. Leo stood in front of her, stunned by what she said but he knew he shouldn't be surprised in the first place, this mess was all his fault.

Leo let out, "I guess I should go now"

Xena replied back, "I think that would be best"

"Yeah" Leo backed up to the window, "I'm sorry for everything, you know. I didn't meant to upset you"

"You know what, Leo? I don't want to hear about it anymore. Maybe we shouldn't do this anymore, it's clearly not going to work out the way Splinter wants it to" Xena voiced.

"Yeah" Leo nodded, "I'm starting to get that now. Don't worry about me trying, I'll give you your space. Just don't let this affect sensei. He really loves his grandson and I'd hate to see you not come around because of me. I don't want to damage anymore relationships"

"I promise that this changes nothing between your father and Aidan" Xena said in a small voice.

Leo tried his best to smile but he gave her a small nod instead as he took one last glance over to the crib before he vanished. With a heavy heart and tears in her eyes, she walked over to the window and locked it. Xena shuddered as tears came freely from her eyes as she grabbed onto her pillow, hugged it to her chest as she sobbed into it, shaking violently as she had to suppress a scream as the feeling ate her up on the inside.


	14. Painful

Xena opened the door to her room and walked over to the kitchen to get some water. Casey was just watching tv while April was still researching on whatever Donnie had given her. She glanced to the clock and noticed that it read 10:20 at night as she sipped the water. Her eyes narrowed as she picked up on a fleeting thought of April's. She whipped around and marched over to the table that she was working on and placed the glass in front of her. April looked up from her work and leaned back as she studied her younger cousin.

"What is it?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Excuse me?"

"You were thinking about something of a portal with these creatures popping out, why?"

"Because that's what the Stars of Kekan do, Xena, that's what gave Winters immortal life"

Xena took a slight step back, "So they're connected then. The portal and the stone generals"

April nodded, "The Stars of Kekan can grant immortal life but if the monsters are returned then the immortal life ends"

"And that is how you defeat the generals" Xena pieced together.

"I thought Leo was going to explain all of that to you" April hinted.

Xena felt a pang before she shook her head, "No. He was just looking for Raph"

April insisted, "Why are you all of a sudden interested in the stone generals? You seemed kind of scared at the thought of them. Did you have a vision?"

"Yeah, coincidentally of both a portal and four walking statues" Xena let out, "Now I see why I had them"

"What were they about?"

Xena felt her mind flash as she replayed the vision in her head of Raph fighting the stone generals with anger in his heart. His war cry was so loud that even her own voice was tired from his scream. His eyes looked glazed with either anger or tears she couldn't really tell. She flinched slightly as she remembered the blade piercing his side. She looked around and noticed that she gained the attention of Casey as he stared at her from his place on the couch.

Xena answered, "Shadows came out of a bright portal and four statues were walking the streets as New York stood in a mess"

"What?" Casey breathed out.

"There's something else" April narrowed her eyes at her cousin.

"Not really" Xena mumbled before she recovered, "You know how detailed my visions can be"

April slowly nodded, "You probably saw more than you wanted to. I'm sorry. Did you tell Leo about your vision?"

"No" Xena rolled her eyes, "Why would I?"

April looked over her shoulder to Casey who cautiously said, "Because you guys were attacked by a mysterious monster a couple of nights ago. Don't you think your visions are relevant to the subject?"

"Not really. But now that they're linked I'll go ahead and tell Donnie what I saw" Xena explained, "Because at least he will know what to do with that information"

April sighed, "Come on, Xena, you need to let him in sometime"

"Eventually I will. Just not soon" Xena stated, "I hope that no one is trying to rush me back into a relationship that I feel like I don't even want to be in"

April looked to her with pity behind her eyes, "You don't mean that"

Xena swallowed, "If I didn't mean it then I never would've said it. You know that"

She turned away from them as she felt a slight tingle in her mind; someone was trying to contact her telepathically. The messages are almost like phones, Xena could sense who is trying to contact her and right now she was sensing Leo. She closed her eyes and inhaled as she noticed that this contact was something different. Usually she could feel it powerfully in her mind but right now it felt fleeting, almost like as if he was going to sleep.

Xena was about to brush it away when suddenly the message became painful as she let out a scream, clutched her head, and collapsed to the ground. If she ever wondered what it would be like to have her head electrocuted like the old days, this was as close as she got to it. Just as the feeling came into her mind, it suddenly stopped as she gasped and tried to focus as she realized that Leo's invitation was suddenly gone from her mind.

"Xena!" April was on one side.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Casey said from the other side.

Xena stared into space, "Leo. I- I don't know what happened but he was trying to talk to me and then I just got that pain. Now I can't feel him anymore"

"What do you mean by that? Like he's gone or something?" A cry came from Xena's room as April continued, "You should go to the lair to see if he's alright. We'll take care of Aidan"

Xena shook her head, "No! He's my son, I've got to take care of him. We can just try to call him or something. I'm sure he's okay. Just, he forgot how to communicate"

"I don't think that happened, Xena. He was trying to tell you something and it went wrong. You need to find him. Forget about what the two of you are going through right now. He could be in danger for all we know. Just go and see if he's alright for us and let us know, please" Casey urged as Xena looked to him and slowly nodded as she got up to get her boots, gloves, and jacket before she could head down to the sewers to find out what went wrong.


	15. Taken

Xena lunged at Leo the second she saw him, she tried to aim for his neck but he quickly shrunk it down into his shell. She stopped attacking, still not used to her boyfriend doing that. Leo took this time to kick out her legs from underneath her. The 17 year old yelped as she was dropped to the ground as she quickly tried to pull herself back up onto her feet.

Leo hit her lightly with a wooden training weapon on her butt, "Faster!"

Xena growled, "You're not giving me a chance to fight back"

Leo responded back, "Neither will the Foot, they will strike you when you least expect it"

"And here I thought you would be gentle with me" Xena huffed, "Fine, attack me! Eventually you'll be sorry"

She deeply inhaled as she predicted Leo trying to go for her left side as she quickly dodged him. He seemed impressed as he tried to attack her once again but she kept on seeing his attack long before he thought about it. Xena then hit him really hard in the plastron as her wooden sword connected with his right arm.

Leo looked to her, "You're cheating"

Xena smirked, "Am I? You said that I had to pretend you're a Foot Ninja"

"And here I thought you wanted me to train you. But until you know how to defeat Mikey and Donnie then that will be when you can come out on patrol with us. Which also means that you can't use your abilities on them during your final test"

Xena relaxed her stance and gave him a side nod. She thinks that she can handle herself on the younger brothers but she's seen them train before and is slightly more intimidated whenever she thinks about it.

"Yes, Master" Xena told him as he looked surprised at his nickname, "But I could use a little break. We've been training for over an hour now. Don't I get at least a little bit of an award for that?"

Leo smirked as he walked over, wrapped his arm around her waist and leaned in to give her a sweet kiss.

* * *

"Xena!" Donnie let out as a 19 year old Xena ran down the stairs.

Xena looked around, "Where's Leo?"

"Leo?" Donnie blinked, "You're actually looking for him?"

"Where is he, Donnie?" Xena turned to the gentle turtle.

Donnie shrugged, "He left looking for Raph, maybe he's seen him around"

Xena stiffened up, "Raph's back?"

"He went in to talk to Master Splinter a couple of seconds ago" Donnie nodded over to the training room, "Maybe you can ask him yourself"

Xena nodded as she gave Donnie's shoulder a slight grip as she made her way over to the training room. She walked by Mikey really fast who seemed more curious than concerned about what was going on. All Xena wanted to know is if Leo was alright and then she will come back home. She walked over to the training room and noticed that Raph was kneeling before Master Splinter which made her stop. She knew better to not intervene when someone was kneeling before Sensei. Xena waited as she couldn't help but listen to their conversation.

"Raphael, you always bear the world's problems on your shoulders" Splinter was saying, "It is an admirable quality when you are a protector of others. But you must realize that while, at times, you may not be my favorite _student_ it does not mean that you are my least favorite son. You are strong, passionate, and loyal to a are the merits of a great leader as well but only when tempered with compassion and humility"

"But, Master Splinter, I messed up big tonight" Raph said as he took out two broken twin katanas making Xena gasp, "I mean big. They took him"

"Leonardo" Master Splinter said.

"Yeah" Raph responded.

Master Splinter's fur furrowed as he stated, "Then the time for hiding is over. We must return to the surface to take back what is ours"

"By your wish, Father" Raphael told him.

Xena noticed that Splinter was on his way over to where she was standing, she quickly turned but then she heard him call her name, "Xena"

"I knew this was going to happen but I let it" Xena turned to the elder rat, "I should've made peace when he came back. This is all my fault. I had these visions and instead of telling everyone about it, I kept them to myself"

"Now is not the time to blame yourself" Master Splinter reached out and took a hold of her hand, "Contact your cousin and her boyfriend and have them come down here"

Xena nodded, "Yes, Master. I will let them know"

When April, Casey, and Aidan came to the lair; April thrust her arms around Xena as the younger cousin burrowed her head into her shoulder. April cupped her head and wiped away the tear falling down her cheek as they moved to everyone else. Xena looked down to the bundle sleeping in Casey's arms as she gave a weak smile, not knowing if Leo will ever get to really know his son. Judging by the way her visions looked, they were more than likely going to fail. Xena glanced over to Raph who squinted his eyes slightly before he turned to the table, he wasn't going to let that happen.

Master Splinter told everyone, "Long have you been in hiding. Perhaps too long"

"Well, what do we do now?"

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do" Raph spoke up, "We're gonna rescue our brother, and then we're gonna save New York City"


	16. Never Say Never

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Keno, please! I need you to do this for me" Xena pleaded, "There is no one else I would trust with this position"

"A babysitting position" Keno scoffed, "If what you're saying about the future is true then you need me out there. You'll need all the help you can get and you want me to stay home and rock your baby to sleep?"

Xena told him, "It's not because we don't trust your fighting skills because believe me, you probably could take me out in five minutes. But that is exactly why I am making you do this"

"Come on, Xena, I need to be out there with you guys" Keno pleaded.

Xena glanced down to her watch and started to grind her teeth together. She should be on the road by now but of course, Keno was being a pain in the ass. She could've went to different allies around New York City but she chose Keno instead. He was the only one who had potential and something else she admired about him but instead, he was taking Aidan's duty as an insult. Xena gently rocked Aidan to keep from being woken up by their argument. She turned back to Keno who ran a hand through his jet black hair.

Xena looked the teenager in the eyes, "In my vision, we failed and the statues roam freely with the monsters causing destruction. I don't know what happens to us or even me for that matter but I'm going to bet that it's not good. This is why I need you, Keno. You're the only person I can trust outside of my family who will keep Aidan safe and protect him"

Keno slowly said, "You're making it sound like this is your last night"

"Anything is possible" Xena let out, "Believe me when I tell you that I really don't want to think that I'm going to die but with Leo being captured, I can't say that I'm not even a little bit distracted about his safety"

Xena reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm giving you the most important job to both me and Leo"

"And not because I'm just some kid, right?" Keno asked, "Because that's what they said last time and the time before that"

Xena smiled and rolled her eyes as she walked over and gently laid Aidan down on the couch. She's heard of the countless times the turtles were supposed to do just a mere exercise and then here comes Keno getting them into more trouble. He was almost like the little brother they never quite got… the one who makes Mikey look mature. Xena smiled as she smoothed out Aidan's red hair as he started sucking loudly on the pacifier. She realized that this may be one of the last times she'll ever get to see her son.

"No, Keno, I wasn't there for any of those times either"

"Yeah, but the second you came waltzing in, Leo's been all over you like a lovesick puppy" Keno replied making Xena blush and giggle, "Not only that, you got kickass psychic powers which put you ten steps ahead of me"

Xena smiled, "If we make it out of this one, I'll talk to the turtles in making you a full-pledged member. I promise, okay? Just do this for me"

"Deal" Keno winked.

Xena nodded to him as she looked back down and kissed Aidan on the forehead. She looked down to him and wished that he could wake up and smile at her. She wanted to see those golden-amber brown eyes that he shares with his father. Xena wanted to feel like things will all work out in the end.

Xena looked down to her sleeping child as tears-filled her eyes, "I love you so much, Aidan. I just need you to know something, it's important. I know mommy's been keeping you away from daddy. I thought I was protecting you but now I realize that I've been hurting our family. But I'm going to do everything in my power to get your Daddy back, ok? I'm going to do everything to get your Daddy back"

* * *

"I can't believe you're actually pregnant!" Mikey let out, making Xena flinch.

Xena turned to him, "How did you find me?"

Xena had left the lair pretty quickly after she had told them that she was pregnant. She couldn't take everyone's surprised and shocked faces as she just stood there humiliated. Xena thought she had given herself a good safe distance away from the home but Mikey's sudden appearance proved her wrong.

"Um, dude, you're wandering around in the sewers, I kinda know my way around here" Mikey told her, "So what're going to name her?"

"Her?!"

Xena turned and looked to the turtle who seemed to be thinking of who knows what. Her head felt like it was being flushed down the drain by how far Mikey was thinking into the future.

Mikey nodded, "I'm totally putting my money down that it's a girl! It's gotta be! Just seeing Leo with a little gi-"

Xena suddenly stopped the turtle and thrust her arms out to make him stop walking and stop talking.

"We're not telling Leo just yet, remember?" Xena let out, "I made you guys promise me that"

She looked at him with pleading eyes as Mikey waved her off.

"Oh, no worries! Your secrets safe with me"

Xena let out a sigh, "Mikey, I just want to be left alone now, okay? I just found out about this myself and I don't really know how to handle this"

Xena walked over to the side and shrank down to sit on one of the pipes. She placed a hand on her stomach just imagining a baby swimming inside her own body.

"Do you think anyone else is going to be as crazy enough to actually want to start a family with a turtle who lives in the sewers?" Mikey asked suddenly.

Xena turned, expecting to yell at him but then she noticed that he wasn't joking. Mikey was serious about finding someone to share a life with as he waited for Xena's honest answer, "Oh, Mikey, I'm sure there will be a girl up there just dying for your attention"

* * *

"Took you long enough, sis, ready to kick some serious ass?" Mikey greeted as Xena walked up to the group.

Xena ran up to Mikey and thrust her arms around him in a quick hug. She had to leave her car a couple of blocks behind as she sprinted down the rest of the way. Mikey handed her Xena's usual weapons as she quickly tied them onto her forest green suit.

Xena looked up to the tower, "Just as long as we get to Leo on time"

Mikey looped his arm around her shoulder, "I'm sure we will and then when all this is over, you guys can do all the making up you need"

"Mikey" Xena groaned.

"Seems like we're all here" Donnie let out, "Everyone knows what we're going to do?"

Xena looked up just in time to see a bright light come crashing down and into Winters' building. Her throat tightened up as she looked over to Master Splinter who only returned the look. Xena narrowed her eyes as she jumped up and balanced on top of the cement fence. She wasn't going to lose Leo that easily, even if it meant to face the Foot Clan, five immortal warriors, and a bunch of monsters jumping through a portal.

"Get Leo, kick Winters ass, and save the City" Raph repeated.

"Precisely" Donnie smiled.

Xena nodded, "Then let's go"

Mikey, Raph, and Donnie looked to each other before they leaped and let out, "Cowabunga!"


	17. Rescue Mission

Xena let out a shout as she kicked a Foot Ninja away from her and connected her weapon with another ninja. She moved gracefully around as she predicted the moves of the Foot Ninja's around her, making her a hard target to fight.

She turned and took one glance over to the tower, the ray of light catching her off guard for a little bit before a ninja kicked her weapon away from her. Xena gasped as she saw her mugai ryu slide away from her. She looked around at the ninja's getting ready to strike her fast and hard as what she would assume. But Xena placed her fingers to her temples and reached into the darkest parts of their minds as the screams of previous victims amplified in their heads. Even though the ninja's were trained to be silent killers, everyone around her screamed in pain as her telepathy was working on all of them.

Xena straightened up and kicked most of them to the ground as she quickly rolled away and picked up her mugai ryu. She turned over to a ninja who was trying to catch up to her as she hit him across the face.

She took this time to glance down to her watch and noticed that it was nearing 1 in the morning. They had to get moving if they were to try and save Leo on time. Xena connected her blade with one ninja, as she let out a war cry as she pushed him away from her but unfortunately into Casey's hockey stick. She smirked and nodded to him as he raised up a thumbs up to her. She turned back around and started to head over to the entrance as April told the turtles that they had to get a move on. A group of ninjas stayed near the entrance but that meant nothing to Xena as she used her telepathy once more to make the ninja's scream and fall to their knees. Usually, Xena would use her telepathy as a last resort weapon but after all the anger and frustration she's been going through, she was more than glad to let it out this way. Xena quickly dashed over to the building and stopped and turned as everyone filed inside but couldn't find a door to block out the coming Foot Clan.

"Dudes, what do we do now?"

"I'm working on it"

Xena looked around, "There has to be some kind of switch to close the door"

A crash suddenly sounded from her right as Casey broke a Greek vase which made a siren sound come on from up above. She looked up just in time to see a metal door come crashing down and separated the group from the Foot.

"Yeah!" Raph cheered, "Alright!"

Xena turned and gave Casey a fist bump as she looked over to the swirling bright light that was in the deeper part of the room, "Whoa! Check it out"

"That would be the swirling vortex to another world, I assume" Donnie came up right beside her.

"Cool! I want one" Mikey said from behind them as both Xena and Donnie exchanged glances as Mikey went up to one of the barrels, "Leo, is that you?"

Mikey leaped back as a roar came from inside, "Sorry, wrong cage"

"I got him!"

"Out of the way, please!"

Xena felt her heart do a flip as she watched Donnie place a bomb onto the front of the cage. April wrapped her arm around Xena's as they waited and cringed at the sound of the bomb exploding. Raph reached in and helped Leo out of the small space, half dragging the eldest turtle. Xena gasped slightly as Leo struggled to regain his footing for a little bit as he let out a labored cough.

"There you go" Raph said in a small voice before he handed him the twin katanas, "You're gonna need these if you're gonna lead us out of here"

Leo took them and looked at the blades before he looked back to Raph, "I'm gonna need you too"

Leo took a look back at Xena as she both straightened up and stiffened at the same time. Leo suddenly became aware as he glanced around rapidly at everyone else, "Aidan. Where is he? He's not-"

"He's safe" Xena finally said.

Leo suddenly relaxed a little bit as he slowly exhaled but didn't break his eye contact with Xena. She gave him a weak smile as he mirrored her look. Xena took a step toward him but then a sound of a yell from the balcony made the team all look as everyone watched Winters come crashing down to the ground right next to them.

"Winters"

"Looks more like fall. Get it?"

"Mikey, remember our talk" Donnie told the youngest.

"Looks like someone got to him before us" Casey stated.

"Is he dead?" Xena asked.

Mikey took out a stick from Casey's back and poked Winters a few times before he turned to everyone, "Not so immortal, huh, dudes?"

Winters suddenly jerked up and gasped, making everyone jump back and let out some sort of yelp from him coming back to life.

"Your time's run out, Winters" April told him.

Winters looked over to the group, "Miss O'Neil. I must have hit my head pretty hard. I'm seeing giant turtles"

April ignored him, "We know what you're up to, Winters. We know about the portal and we think that it's time you sent all these monsters home"

"I couldn't agree with you more" Winters stood up as the Foot Clan filed all around them, "It is time to put an end to the curse that I have brought upon myself and this world. That's what this is about, Miss O'Neil: penance. I must return all 13 beasts or our course will continue. And that is a torment I can no longer bear"

April narrowed her eyes as she looked over to her younger cousin, who she knew was already searching the immortals mind. Xena glanced back over to April as she nodded and said, "He's telling the truth"

"Then you should be put out of your misery" A deep voice said as the four statues walked over to Winters.

"I think we walked in on a family feud, guys" Leo told everyone.

The General came walking over, "The time has come to reopen the portal and rain destruction upon the Earth"

"Nothing will stand in our way when we have an army at our command" A statue who looked similar to a cat finished.

"My brothers, I-"

"We are no brothers to you!"

The cat continued, "With one monster still free, the curse will never be broken"

"We shall finish what we began all those years ago" the female explained, "And we will finally have our victory"

"Join us! Join us, Foot Clan" The general yelled out, "Swear your allegiance to us and no harm will befall you"

Xena reached down and gripped her handle as the Foot Ninja took a step closer but Karai raised up her hand as she stated, "The Foot Ninja is not without honor. We work for Winters, not you"

Karai motioned with her hands as the Foot vanished making April ask, "Okay, what does that mean?"

Karai turned to her, "It means we're going to help you. My ninja will find the last monster and you will bring it back here. Hurry, we don't have much time"

Karai turned and quickly ran off with her ninja as April and Casey quickly took off. Xena turned and was about to run after them when Leo quickly stopped her, "I don't think you should go"

Xena stopped, "You want me to stay here? But I thought that you never want me near the dangerous missions"

"Not anymore" Leo told her as he pierced her with his golden-amber brown eyes, "I need you here"

"Then I'll stay" Xena agreed as she gave him a small smile before she turned to the immortal statues.

"Forget about them" the main general threatened, "By the time they return, the portal will already be closed with you inside it"


	18. Swirling Vortex

"Umm…"

"What is it? I thought you've always wanted a weapon"

Xena glanced down to her sword, feeling the weight of it but was slightly disappointed in the object. She often wondered after she passed the test of fighting Donnie and Mikey, what kind of weapon she would get. But the one she got was almost as close to the one that she trains with. It is called a mugai ryu and the sword was just a blunt sword; a butter knife of kitchen knives. When Master Splinter gave it to her, she pretended she was almost as ecstatic as if he had just given her a katana. But Leo knew better than to not listen to Xena's words but to watch her face and body movement.

Now the teenage couple sat together in Leo's room as she examined her sword. Through the reflection, she can see Leo staring intently at her waiting for her to answer him. Xena glanced up and smiled a toothless grin at him. She didn't want to say what she wanted to since it was both Leo and Master Splinter's choice on what kind of weapon to give her. But she knew that if she told Leo a lie, it would hurt him more than the truth.

Xena shrugged, "I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted this to happen. I've been counting down the days until I was chosen a weapon. I'm really flattered by this choice, I really am! It's just I wasn't expected to get a blunt weapon"

Leo slowly nodded, "I should've known. I'm guessing you never heard of the reason why mugai ryu's are given as weapons in the first place"

Xena lifted up her weapon, "I can't kill anything with this"

Her boyfriend gave her a serious look, "Is that what you think my brothers and I do out there? Kill? That's the last thing we want to chose a mugai ryu for you because the sword is not used to kill but to give life a second chance… you don't want the stain of blood on your hands Xena, believe me"

Xena slowly moved closer to him and nuzzled her head into his shoulder as she mumbled, "I didn't think about it like that… I'm sorry"

* * *

"I hate to see brothers fight like this"

"Unless it's together" Raph told his brothers as they all ran up to a statue, "Hate to rain on your parade, pal, but we thought we'd even the odds"

The main general responded, "We're going to enjoy this"

The generals advanced to the turtles as each of them fought a different statue, Winters tried to step in to fight one of them but Master Splinter stopped him.

Splinter stated, "If you please. They can defeat them. They are a team"

"Let's hope so, because if not, Aguila will use the portal to draw forth an army of evil and the world will be lost" Xena looked up as she noticed familiar shadows coming closer to her as Winters told them, "More beasts! Let's send them back where they belong"

Xena took out her steel fan and flung it in the air as a bat-like creature tried to fly out of their reach. The beast got hit and sent back into the portal as she fixed in on a creature's shadow coming her way.

Xena leaped back and hit her mugai ryu on it's snout, "Down, boy! Back into the portal you go"

She kicked it back into the portal as she noticed a bigger problem as she heard a grunt behind her. Xena turned and noticed that Leo was fighting almost behind her so if she moved, he would get pummeled by the mysterious creature. She then timed it right as she quickly lunged herself as Leo's side and thrust him away from his opponent just as the creature tackled the stone statue to the ground.

She slowly got up as the statue and creature fought, Xena turned to Leo and reached out a hand to him. He glanced down to the hand and looked up to Xena offering it before he smiled to her and took it, feeling his heart do a ninja kick as she helped him back up just as the statue accidentally threw the creature back into the portal.

"You wrench!" The statue growled, "You'll pay for that"

Leo gripped his weapons as he stood in front of her, "You'll be nothing but grains of dust before you even think about touching her"

Leo jumped towards the statue who kicked him off to the side, sending him crashing into a glass case. The statue snarled as he slowly made his way over to Xena as she got into an attack stance before they both turned to see Leo had stood up with multiple different kinds of swords on his holster.

He smirked, "Come to daddy"

The statue let out a cat like cry as he continued to try to attack Leo as Xena couldn't help but let out a light giggle from the irony in his comment as she turned back to the portal to help Winters and Master Splinter.

"These guys really don't die!" Mikey hollered, "Sensei, are you alright?"

"We must do this more often" Master Splinter let out as he leaped up and kicked a bat back into the portal, "I still got it!"

Xena ducked out of the way of a creature with multiple tails as she fought with the beast before it fell back into the portal. She glanced around and noticed that the cases were almost gone and still no 13th monster to take Leo's place. She was slammed from a beast that looked almost like a rhino as she collided with the floor.

Master Splinter came and knelt down next to her as Winters took care of the rhino as the rat yelled out, "Boys, we must finish this now!"

The four turtles quickly pushed the statues closer and closer to the portal before they all jumped up and kicked them into the swirling vortex. A flash of blue light and a forceful wave sent everyone crashing to the ground before they all slowly got up and looked at the portal.

"So did we win?" Mikey asked as he edged over to the opening.

There was a moment before the statues growled as they slowly got up and out of the portal as Aguila let out, "Foolish creatures! We are immortals made of stone! Without the final monster to break our curse we will never be stopped"

A honk could be heard blaring as the Cowabunga Carl van came bouncing through with an enormous monster right on their tail. The van quickly swerved off to the left as the monster tried to stop. Xena gasped as she noticed the turtles were in the way of the portal but before she could move, Winters quickly tackled the four brothers out of the way before the monster collided with the stone immortals and thrust them back into the portal.

Xena felt the ground shake as the four immortals were heard screaming in the portal as the vortex suddenly started to shrink back up higher and higher to the sky until a green lightning cracked as the clouds stopped forming. She glanced down to Splinter who only smiled and looked back to her; they won.


	19. A New Dawn

"So did we win now?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, I think we did" Donnie let out, "We won!"

"All right"

"Yeah!"

Xena sighed as she ran a hand through her hair and looked back over to the ancient portal. The runes were shattered and loose, hopefully to never be in use ever again. They had did the unimaginable and actually changed the future that she and the turtle's were heading toward. She turned and smiled to Master Splinter who was thinking the same thing as he nodded to her. Xena looked over to Donnie and Mikey hugging as Leo and Raph fist bumped. Everyone, even Winters, was smiling to see another day.

Xena turned and noticed that the van was tipped over as she quickly ran over to the vehicle as the door opened. April groaned as she pushed herself out of the tipped over van. The older cousin just looked up before she smiled and embraced Xena in a tight hug. She giggled as she broke the hug and looked up to April. Even though, Xena was in pain, it was the comforting pain that made her realize that she was alive.

"We did it!" Xena cheered.

She turned and smirked as she noticed that Casey was struggling to get out of the van himself. When he noticed that April was standing, he pushed Karai over and ran to April, only giving Xena a few seconds to get out of his way. Xena huffed and shook her head as she watched the couple embrace each other. She felt like they did nothing but drive around while she was fighting countless monsters from breaking through to go into the city.

"Get a room" Xena rolled her eyes.

"Typical" Raph let out from behind her, "We do all the work, he gets all the thanks"

Karai came up to Master Splinter with her injured ninja hanging off of her shoulders, "You are every bit of warriors I was informed you were. You have passed. Savor your victory tonight. For soon, we will have further business together. The kind that involves familiar faces from your past"

Xena furrowed her eyebrows as she entered Karai's mind and saw a shadow looming over her as he gave her a command. She noticed that the shadow had a familiar voice as it echoed in her mind, giving her chills. She stiffened up as she realized that Raph turned and looked towards her.

Raph asked, "She doesn't mean…"

Karai only smirked to her before she threw down a smoke pellet, Xena choked back a cough as she waved her hand back and forth. When she looked back up, she wasn't really surprised that Karai and the Foot Ninja were gone.

Casey complained, "Come on! What is it with ninjas and smoke pellets"

Xena looked over to Leo who was staring at her as his smile deepened when she noticed him, she slowly walked over to him until she was facing her estranged boyfriend.

"Looks like you picked a good time to come home" Xena admitted.

"I have your cousin to thank for that" Leo told her.

Xena nodded a little before her body suddenly lost control as she thrust her arms around him and sent her body crashing into his. Leo was surprised when he noticed that Xena was hugging him but then relaxed as he quickly wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes, he missed her loving hugs. He inhaled but was surprised as a different scent filled his senses. She smelled fresh, lively, fruity, and sweet; he actually liked the change. A small laughter made the turtle and psychic break apart as they both looked over to the entrance and noticed Winters was laughing. Xena glanced over to him before she slowly followed the others as they walked over to the immortal soldier.

"Winters?" Raph asked.

Mikey let out, "I'm never usually that happy to be in pain"

Donnie explained, "He's happy because he's mortal again, Mikey"

Winters looked over to April as he smiled to her, "April. I've had my eye on you for a long time"

"I knew it!" Casey let out.

"I've always known that you'd be the one to help me find my way home" Winters then turned to the turtles, "And thank you brothers. You've made a very old man very, very, happy"

"So, what happens now?" Mikey asked.

Winters looked back over to the dawn before he exhaled as a soft blue light overcame him and started to make him float up. Xena couldn't help but gawk as he started to turn into a golden dust and swirl over head. An arm wrapped around her shoulders as Casey brought both April and Xena closer to him. She smiled as she looked up to the man and her cousin before they watched the last of Winters fade away.

Mikey slowly said, "Okay… Just a little bit creepy"

Mikey suddenly sneezed as he let out, "Oh, gross, I think he's in my nos- My no- My no-" he let out another sneeze as he said, "Gross! Somebody give me a hankie! Now he's in my mouth. Tastes awful!"

Xena let out a laugh as she shook her head and walked over to the entrance before she turned around and asked, "Are you coming, Leo?"

"Where are we going?" Leo blinked in surprise.

Xena just smiled to him as she answered, "We're going to get our son"


	20. Come Clean

"It's kind of weird how Aidan was so close to not seeing his family and him not realizing it" Xena mused as Leo, Xena, and Aidan were in the Dojo the next night.

Leo nodded, "It's for the best. He is only 11 months old, remember?"

"That's the beauty of innocence"

"Maybe it's for the best that we don't tell him what happened tonight until he's older, Xena"

Xena smiled as she offered the sleeping baby to him, "Do you want to hold him? He's won't wake up, believe me, he can sleep through anything"

"Are you sure? I thought you didn't want me anywhere near him" Leo let out but instantly regretted it, thinking that if he reminded Xena of her anger it will return.

"That was before you were…"

"Kidnapped?"

"Yeah… I just wished I talked to you telepathically before you…" Xena looked down to Aidan and inhaled, "We were really close to losing you"

Leo took a step closer to her, "I shouldn't have tried to reach out to you in the first place"

"No, I'm glad you did" Xena looked up to him, "You reminded me of something that I almost lost"

Leo glanced down to Aidan playing who was sucking loudly on a blue pacifier, "Xena, if I knew you were pregnant, I would've came back and stayed here with you-"

"I know" Xena told him, "That's the reason why I didn't tell you in the first place. You always put everyone else's needs before your own and the training period was something you wanted to do for the longest time. What I don't get is why you didn't come back when you promised you would"

"Yeah, I think now's the perfect time to explain my actions" Leo glanced to the ground, "It just sounds stupid now"

Xena shifted, "Try me, Leo"

Leo opened up his mouth to say something but nothing came out as he turned and walked a little bit ways away from her. Xena walked over to the quilt she laid out earlier and placed Aidan in the center and tucked him into the makeshift bed. She glanced back over to Leo who still had his shell turned to her, making her get up and walk over to him. Leo felt a small, soft hand placed on his shoulder as he slowly turned around and looked down to Xena, the girl he fell in love with. He still hesitated as he didn't know how she would react to what he had to say. Leo just barely got Xena to talk to him and this could make her scream at him and revert back to her normal behavior.

Leo began, "My trainer told me that he once fell in love with a human as well from a nearby village. Their bond was so strong that they got married in secret, eventually the village people found out about their marriage and one day, when he was away from their home, the townspeople took her away and to this day he doesn't know what happened to her. I couldn't help but imagine what it would be like if that ever happened to you. Xena, I would've lost my mind if I didn't know where you were and I knew that I couldn't put you in that kind of danger. I was hoping that me not communicating to you would separate us and have you move on with your life. I wanted you to be safe and happy than have a sheltered life with me"

Leo glanced to Xena's eyes as she stared with her mouth open. She then took a step toward him, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a kiss. He closed his eyes and wrapped her tightly to himself as their lips moved together. He gripped onto her shirt as she cupped his head into her hands, not wanting to part. Eventually they did, as they both panted, having their faces inches apart from one another as their breath warmed up the space between them.

"I don't care what other people think, Leo" Xena finally responded, "I could've let you know that the second you came back, with or without Aidan being born. I'm known as a freak up there and probably would've been in the cage next to yours if they found out about us because of my psychic abilities. I feel the most normal when I'm down here with our family"

"Our family?" Leo croaked.

Xena nodded as she looked up to him and noticed that tears were in his eyes. She suddenly felt pity for him and cursed herself as she wondered why she held a grudge on him for so long. She caressed his cheek as he looked up to her blue eyes as he knew she was wondering what he was thinking. Leo sighed as he glanced over to Aidan and whispered to Xena.

"I promise to be a better father" he vowed, "I'll make up for the days I wasn't there for him and you. You won't have to rely on my brothers or my father to step up, I'll do it"

Xena smiled before they heard someone clear their throat, making Xena and Leo back up to see Raph standing in the doorway.

"It's 11:30" Raph informed his leader.

Leo nodded, "Is everyone ready?"

"We're just waiting on you" Raph responded.

Leo walked a few paces over to the door but then stopped and turned around. Xena gave him a small smile and shook her head, "You guys go on ahead. I may be psychic but my body still needs time to heal"

"Are you going back to your apartment?" Leo asked.

Xena thought for a minute before she said, "You know what? Aidan's already sleeping so mind as well stay here. I hope you don't mind that we take your room again"

"I'll see you when I get back then" Leo smirked.

Xena reached out, gripped his hand, and planted a light kiss on his lips. When she looked at his eyes, it seemed like they were glowing a lot more than usual. Leo turned and walked out of the dojo with Raph before he glanced back to his family and smiled, feeling a surge of protectiveness for his son and the mother of his child.


	21. Cousins

"Leo, wake up. _Leo"_

Next to her, Leo slightly shifted as he only picked up his head and moved it to face her. He inhaled deeply as the turtle slowly started to wake up.

"Mmm…"

"Time to get up"

"Five more minutes" Leo mumbled into the pillow, "What's the matter? I thought you wanted me to spend more time with you"

Xena smiled, "But it's almost sunrise. You need to leave before then. I don't want you getting caught"

Instead of moving to get out of the bed, Leo brought his arm over Xena's stomach and pulled her closer to him. Xena blushed, still feeling that having a boyfriend was new to her. She glanced back over to the clock as it read 6:06 AM. Leo had a half hour before the sun started to rise. Leo nuzzled his head into her shoulder and let out a sigh as he found he was too comfortable. He's been on missions where the sun was high in the sky and no one saw him, he wasn't worried. He just wanted to sleep next to Xena and forget that the world outside of her room existed.

"I'm a ninja, remember?" Leo teased.

Xena thought for a moment as she worried about Leo being exposed before an idea popped into her head.

"Master Splinter will be mad to know you were careless" Xena watched as Leo opened one eye to look at her, "I don't want to be the reason you weren't thinking with your head. Plus, he might never allow me back down in the sewers if that ever were to happen. I'm going to need to get up soon anyways. Finals are coming up and I wanted to get a studyguide that my teacher was suggesting. I just hope there is one out there for me in the public library or else I'm screwed"

Leo smiled, "I thought you hated school"

Xena countered, "I'd hate to repeat my last year of high school even more than anything academic"

"Then I guess I should go" Leo sighed as he slowly got up, gracefully flipping over her to stand up.

Xena watched as Leo took his weapons and placed them on the back of his shell before she said, "What? No good morning kiss? And here I thought it would be a great day"

Xena moved as she laid on her back and Leo sat on her bed and stroked her hair. He took this moment to realize that Xena was a teenager with a turtle. Even in the darkness, he could see that she was blushing at him which made the insides of his shell lighter. How could he have been so lucky to find someone like her? Xena reached out and placed a hand on top of his as he looked at her pale skin on top of his green mutated skin as he felt warmth radiating from the touch.

Leo smirked before he leaned down and whispered with his mouth inches in front of hers, "Have a good day today. I'll be looking forward to you coming over after school"

* * *

"Hello" April greeted, "Glad to see you come back home"

Xena rolled her eyes, "I was only gone one night. You make it sound like I haven't been here all week. So what's new? Planning on going out and retrieving an amulet or something? We could really use an apocalypse right about now"

"Touche"

"Good! Is Casey here? Sounds too quiet if he is"

"He's out with his human friends" April shrugged, "He was going on about how our hockey team might clinch the playoffs. I just nodded and let him leave. Looks like it's just you, me, and little Aidan for a while"

Xena raised her eyebrows in surprise as she dropped down the diaper bag and proceeded into the room. With Casey not there, it felt like there wasn't anything going on about sports. It was 5:50 at the moment which gave Xena a little bit of breathing time before she had to start getting Aidan ready for bed. The baby was already starting to get fussy as drowsiness took over him.

Xena smiled as she sat cross legged on the ground, "Well, that's just weird for me. I know it's only been a week since we were alone together but it feels like ages"

"I know" April sat in front of her cousin, "So how was it over there? Did you and Leo talk it out? Well, obviously, otherwise you would've been here a lot sooner"

"Thanks" Xena narrowed her eyes.

April shrugged, "I missed teasing you"

Xena smiled, "Yes, we talked. He told me about why he stayed there a lot longer and honestly if the roles were reversed, I know I would've done the same thing as well. Now, we're just going to pick up the pieces and bring him back into Aidan's life"

"And how was he with Aidan?" April glanced down to the green infant, "Did he hold him?"

Xena hesitated as she glanced back down to Aidan as he bounced up and down, trying to impress April. April smiled and waved a blue toy in his face, making him giggle. She wished that Leo could've seen how much of a hassle it took Xena just to walk him back over to the apartment with clothing draped over his face.

Xena side nodded, "It didn't last long, Aidan started to fuss and squirm the second Leo held him. He didn't even last two minutes before Aidan balled"

"Aidan is a little bit picky on how he wants to be held" April tsked.

"You should've seen how hurt Leo looked when Donnie took him" Xena bit the side of her lip, "It's probably the first time his brothers are better at something that he isn't"

"Give him time" April responded, "He'll learn Aidan's quirks quickly. Leo's a fast learner. Besides, he's got four brothers and his father to teach him. But, I think he needs to learn from you or at least, he _wants_ to learn from you. Even when I stumbled upon him in Central America, I could tell that he missed you more than what he was willing to admit. It would be great for him to reconnect with you through the son you both share"


	22. How You Remind Me

"Do you mind, princess? You're staring again" Casey let out.

Xena blinked, "Sorry"

She bowed down her head slightly but couldn't help but look back over Casey's shoulder to Leo and Aidan. Leo has been given a challenge today and it was just to simply feed Aidan his lunch. So far, it looked like Leo was wearing most of the food he offered as Aidan found out that throwing foods at turtle ninja's were far more amusing than eating. If Xena was there, she would've given him her stern voice and then Aidan would've dropped the attitude. But seeing how Leo was still new to the infant, he was getting away with a lot more than what Splinter would've put up with. Xena glanced over to Casey who was staring straight at her, making the teenager tense up for a moment.

Casey mumbled, "I thought you were going to let him feed his son"

Xena replied back, "Doesn't mean I can't watch. There's no harm in that. I just want to see how Leo's doing, is all"

"How did he do in changing the diaper and clothes?" Casey asked.

Xena smiled, "Took him 25 minutes but he managed. Then again, changing him is a bit of a challenge since he knows how to crawl away now. I was actually finding that part entertaining. But he did a decent job in the end"

Casey answered, "Without your help? You just stood back and watched?"

"Well, what did you want me to do?" Xena furrowed her eyebrows, "Leo's learning how to become a father just like how we wanted it to happen. He's doing great. I think Aidan is warming up to him. He's starting to like having Leo around"

"He's using Leo like how the kids used Mikey as Cowabunga Carl" Casey lectured, "He's not putting together that Leo should be respected. He knows you as his mother and obeys you and if he sees you with Leo then he'll piece together what Leo is to him"

"But he wants to do it alone" Xena glanced back over to Leo struggling from their place on the couch.

Casey leaned in, "Because he knows you went through with it alone"

Xena straightened up, "You think he's doing it as punishment on himself?"

"Of course he is. He doesn't let you around Aidan whenever he's supposed to do something and whenever you take over, he sulks away" Casey explained, "It's a lot easier to notice when you're watching from the sidelines. Go to him, Xena"

Xena sighed as she picked herself up and walked over to Leo and Aidan, she cleared her throat and asked, "How's it going? I noticed that you might need a little bit of help. Come on, I'll help you"

"No" Leo quickly responded as Xena sat down next to him, "I got this"

"The idea of having you step in as a father was to learn from me, the mother"

Leo stiffened up, "I just wanted to make this right, Xena. I want to learn this on my own. Just like the way you did 11 months back"

Xena placed a hand on his arm, "When I first started out; I had Donnie researching, April tending, and the others to help out whenever I needed to rest. What you are doing is just creating more stress on yourself"

Leo sighed, "I can't even feed him"

Xena replied, "Because he can feed himself. He doesn't like it whenever someone tries to feed him his own food nowadays"

"I wonder who he got that from" Leo huffed as he placed the bowl down on the food tray where Aidan gladly started to immediately eat by himself.

"That's all you"

"Really? At least I can take orders when I need to. Whenever someone tells you to do something, we have to look out for not just you but your astral self from sneaking around"

Xena rolled her eyes, "Okay, so it might come from me"

Leo smirked, "You know you could've told me that he eats his own food"

"You wouldn't listen, O Obedient One" Xena teased.

"He eats food but still drinks milk" Leo said slowly, "Why?"

"Because he's still a baby" Xena explained.

"Yeah, good thing too" Leo mumbled, "I don't know what would've happened if I stayed away for 11 years"

Xena slumped, "Come on, Leo. You need to stop hanging that over your head"

"It's hard not to" Leo looked to her, "I didn't even get to see him in his first months like everyone else"

"You won't make that mistake next time" Xena blurted out, "I mean, I didn't mean it like that. Just when the time comes around…"

Leo glanced over to her and wrapped his hand tightly around hers, "I know what you meant"

Xena blushed, "Great! Let's just worry about this little one but together this time"

Xena waved out her fingers as Leo suddenly lost control of his body as Xena made him pick up the baby and wrap his arm around Aidan. He thought that the little infant would wail like all the other times but he didn't as Leo started to pat him on his back. From his peripheral vision, he could see Xena working her fingers like little puppeteer movements, controlling him. Aidan let out a burp before he suddenly giggled as Xena chuckled. Leo moved Aidan so that he was laying with his head on top of his plastron before Leo suddenly relaxed as Xena's pull was gone from his body.

Leo glanced over to her and smirked, "You know I hate it whenever you do that"


	23. Image Inducer

Xena woke up to her alarm silently buzzing on her nightstand as she quickly turned it off and got up from her bed. In the darkness, she sat up, crossed her legs, and closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply as she used her telepathy to stretch out of New York City and towards Central America. She imagined Leo smiling to her and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hold like he usually does. A slight pull happened, making Xena open her eyes to see Leo sitting cross legged in front of her as well. Xena smiled at her focused turtle as she crawled over and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Isn't it 1:15 in the morning over there" Leo smiled as he opened his eyes to look at her, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Xena nodded, "I missed you. It's not the same here in New York without you. But do you really want to lecture me about seeing you tonight?"

Leo smirked as he quickly grabbed her and placed her on top of his lap, making Xena gasp. She giggled as he nuzzled her hair and held her tight. He felt sad as he realized in the astral plane, he couldn't use his sense of smell as he missed the scent of her lotion. Xena pulled down his blue cloth and played with it in her fingers as she wished that they were in his room and not on the astral plane. Leo picked up his head and lightly kissed her on the forehead.

She glanced up to Leo who gazed down at her with his amber eyes piercing into her body. Xena felt a blush rise as she really wanted to tell him what she's discovered but she couldn't. Half of her wanted the pregnancy to be a surprise for when he returns. But also the other half of her was still in shock that Leo actually got her pregnant.

Leo sighed, "I miss being there too. It's too quiet over here that I actually wish I heard a subway pass through"

Xena giggled as she straightened up a little bit. She couldn't help but notice the homesickness within his eyes as he remembered the city he left behind. Xena felt Leo pick up her hand to his lips and kissed her palm before bringing it back down to her lap.

Leo felt Xena place her head into the crook of his neck as he wished he could feel the warmth of her skin. The visits on the astral plane only give him more determination to come home to actually be with her again.

Leo picked up her head and kissed her tenderly on the lips to show her how much he missed the love of his life.

* * *

Xena tensed up as she held Aidan slightly closer to her, making the baby whine. She swallowed and looked up to the purple-clad turtle staring down to her. Everyone waited in anticipation as no one else knew what to say or do. She looked over to Leo who stood right above her with his arms folded in a firm grip. Xena could tell that he too was nervous about this experiment but only Aidan can do the test run in order to show that it works. That was what Xena was worried about the most.

Xena sighed, "Do it"

Donnie was about to open his mouth to say his usual line of testing it over 100 times but then stopped. He glanced down to the tiny watch and even felt his head became light as he too feared it might hurt his nephew in a way. He knew that since it's spring that meant summer was around the corner and Xena could barely contain Aidan being fussy with a blanket over his head anymore. They've always talked about an image inducer for Aidan but never did he realize that it can actually be achieved. Now they just needed to test out his experiment and try to tweak it if he could.

He looked around at everyone staring at either him or the baby as he slowly took a step back. Donnie glanced around but when his eyes settled on his older brother, the blue clad turtle gave a firm nod. Donatello sighed as he took his stool and wheeled over to Xena and Aidan. He gave one look over to Xena who was nervously biting her lip as her eyes rested on the gadget.

Without asking permission, Donnie placed the watch on Aidan's wrist and pressed a button. Everyone stiffened up for a moment before Aidan's skin become the same color as Xena's which made Donnie release a breath that he didn't know he was holding in. All around them, the family gasped as the turtle hybrid looked almost exactly human now.

Donnie let out, "Oh, man! The fingers didn't change"

Xena shook her head and placed a hand on Donnie's, "Don't worry about it. One step at a time, remember?"

"You did it, Donnie" Leo smiled as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, "You should be happy that it works"

"Yeah, you guys are right"

Mikey knelt down and looked at Aidan closer, "Are you sure it didn't work _too_ much?"

"Of course it didn't, Mikey" Donnie rolled his eyes, "It's just that we're too used to seeing Aidan in his true form. I made it so that it would enhance Xena's genes more than normal since she's human. So technically, we're looking at the skin color that Xena passed down to Aidan if he were to look more like her than Leo. It's simple, really. The process on making it wasn't"

" _Did she have to pass down the genes to make him look like Casper though?"_ Casey thought.

"Really, Casey" Xena rolled her eyes.

Casey tensed up, "I told you not to peek into my mind like that. It's trespassing"

"You are very easy to hear, even when I don't mean to" Xena told him, "Learn to think nice thoughts. That could be a start for you"

" _Pushy psychic"_ Casey purposely thought.

Donnie straightened up, "Anyways! We now know that the main idea works so I get to work on the less fun stuff. For example, making sure that it's drool proof. Don't really want this device to shock him if it does"

Leo and Xena both yelled out, "It can shock him?!"

Donnie quickly took off the watch as Aidan's color went back to green, the inventor carefully looked at his device before he glanced up to the parents staring at him. He only gave them a smile and shrugged.

He replied, "What? I only told you that I'm almost done with it"

Xena lectured, "Next time, make sure it's safety proof before giving something that can harm your nephew"

Mikey laughed, "Looks like you pissed off mama bear, bro! Good job"

"That's enough, Mikey" Leo scolded.

Mikey let out a goofy giggle as Leo picked up his child off of Xena's lap and cradled him as the whole family went back to whatever they were doing before.

Xena got up from her seat and was about to go and do something else when she looked back over to Donnie. He left back into his lab but he didn't seem to carry himself the way he usually does. Xena glanced over to Leo and placed a hand on his shoulder as she told him that she will be right back. Leo didn't question her as he nodded and turned to go talk to Master Splinter instead. Xena walked into Donnie's lab and noticed the purple-clad turtle was hunched over his workbench once again. She slightly cleared her throat, making Donnie pick up his head and look over to her standing a few feet away from him.

"Do you need something?" Donnie asked her.

Xena shook her head, "Can I just keep you company?"

Donnie hesitated as he opened his mouth but Xena already walked in a little bit further as she sat down across from him. He straightened up a bit as he started to work in silence, not sure why Xena was there. He glanced up and looked to her but she only seemed interested in what he was working on.

Donnie mumbled, "I'm sorry about not thinking of Aidan's safety first"

"It's alright" Xena told him, "I should be the one to apologize though"

"You?" Donnie looked up to her.

Xena explained, "I wanted you to make an image inducer for the longest time and when you finally did it, I never got around to thank you for it. Instead, I kind of humiliated you in front of our friends and family"

"It's alright, no big deal" Donnie mumbled before he joked, "Nothing's as bad as Raph's insults when you're brothers with him. If anyone should learn to apologize it's that turtle"

Xena giggled, "Let's make that our next project then: a personality reducer for Raph"


	24. First Time

Xena laughed as she wiped a tear away from her eye as Leo grabbed onto his shell as if that would stop the laughter. He glanced over to the clock and felt a sinking feeling as he slowly got up.

"Oh, come on, don't tell me you're leaving now" Xena complained.

Leo shrugged, "I have to or else you'll fall asleep in class again"

Xena pouted as she got up from the floor as well and sighed.

A thought suddenly flashed through her mind as she remembered the other turtles telling her how Leo refuses to tell them where she lives. Xena turned and looked over to the eldest turtle as he was placing his weapons back onto his shell. Could it be true? She thought a moment but then blushed as she realized that she was thinking that Leo had a crush on her. She cleared her throat, catching his attention. Xena blushed as she realized that she didn't want to risk it but then she realized that she had to.

Xena played with her fingers, "Your brothers have told me that you don't tell them where I live. Is that true?"

Leo tensed up as his eyes dropped to the ground. It was true, he never let them know where she lived, no matter how much Mikey pleaded. He wanted Xena to just be his own friend and that's when he realized how much he liked her and was jealous whenever she gave his brothers attention. Leo looked back to the teen as she waited patiently for him to answer honestly. He sighed as he decided to tell her the truth.

"Yes. I just thought we had… a better connection, you know?" Leo hinted.

"Is it because you like me?"

"If I say yes, what would you do?"

"I would tell you that I've been having feelings for you too"

"Well, then here goes nothing… I didn't tell them where you lived because I like you Xena and wished you were my girlfriend. So will you be my girlfriend?"

* * *

Xena leaned her head onto her fist as she glanced over to Leo and Aidan in her room. Leo was smiling at the baby as he tossed him up and down as Aidan cheered. The baby kept on saying _Again! Again!_ Each time he landed in Leo's arms. Xena felt a warmth spread inside of her as she always fantasized of her future family being like this. In just one week, Leo's gotten the hang of being a father and it seemed like Aidan has gotten himself familiar with the blue clad turtle. He's even starting to want his attention more than Mikey.

"Shouldn't you be studying?" Leo broke her out of her daydream.

Xena rolled her eyes, "I think I've studied enough today"

Leo smirked as she slammed her book down and crawled over to where Leo and Aidan were. She leaned her back on her bed as Aidan did a big gasp when he saw Xena making them both giggle. Leo watched as Xena leaned forward and wiggled her nose onto his in an Eskimo kiss. They both laughed as she tickled their son who was still in his arms. He let out a gleeful cry and kicked as she straightened up and glanced over to the turtle.

He leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips, making Xena smile. She deepened the kiss a little bit before they both broke it and Leo leaned his forehead onto hers. Xena slightly blushed as she still could feel the turtle staring deeply and intently at her. Leo let out a small huff of a laugh as he watched her pale skin turn light pink.

"I love you" he whispered to her, "I realized I haven't told you that since I got back"

Xena furrowed her brows for a split second as she realized that he was right, though she never really noticed. Her head slowly went down to his shoulder as she moved so she was leaning on him. She sighed as she looked over to Aidan who often reminded her of how much Leo loved her.

Xena let out, "I know. You've proven it to me through your actions"

"You know that time when I was hit with the tranquilizer by Foot and the Stone Generals?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I know why you thought I was trying to talk to you"

"What? I thought that you actually wanted to try and warn me that night"

Leo shook his head, "The last thing on my mind was both you and Aidan, I was trying to leave because I thought that they knew our family had found out about them"

Xena looked up to him, "So that's it then? You were concerned about us even though I yelled at you"

Leo looked down to her and gave her a knowing look that made her smile up at him. She should've known that even if she yelled at him, he'd still be patient and not take it too personally.

"Dada!" A light voice let out in between them, "Dada!"

Both Leo and Xena looked down to Aidan who was reaching out to Leo, trying to grab his face.

Leo quickly looked over to her, "He called me dad! He actually called me dad!"

"He did!" Xena smiled as she thrust one arm around Leo and the other around Aidan.

They both laughed and hugged in a big family hug as April and Casey opened up the door. The two humans glanced to each other, completely lost about what just happened. Aidan hadn't seen them come in but still cheered on calling Leo his daddy. April's mouth gapped open as Casey smiled and leaned into the doorframe. April looked over to Casey lovingly and wrapped her arms around his waist. Xena kept on encouraging Aidan to call Leo dada nearly 20 times over and over.

Aidan turned to Xena and called her mama which made Leo stop as Xena leaned in and nuzzled their son once again. It hit him that his son had finally thought of him as his father. No medal of honor made him feel more accomplished than in this moment right now. He looked up and met eyes with April who wiped a tear away from her cheek. Leo smiled to her as he wanted to send her the message that he was thankful for her to bring him back home to his family.

"You're welcome" April whispered.

Leo turned and ran his hand through Xena's hair as she glanced back up over to her turtle. She smiled and placed a hand over his hand and leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth. He smiled to her as he turned back to Aidan and started to play with him once more. Xena looked up to April and Casey as the man gave a wink before he closed the door to let their small family continue to have their moment.

Xena sighed as she leaned back onto the balls of her feet as Aidan tried to stand on his own, another milestone he wanted to tackle. She let out a giggle as she noticed how much he was like his father in so many ways. Leo glanced back over to Xena as she wiped a happy tear away from her eye.


	25. Over My Head

"What's up, sis?" Mikey cheered once Xena walked in, "Long time, no see"

Xena smiled and high fived her friend before she looped an arm over his shoulder. She did realize that ever since she and Leo had made up, she's sort of neglected the other turtle brothers when she accidentally hurt Donnie's feelings. She wanted to make it up to the other three and make sure that they knew she was grateful to have them around. Xena looked around the room and wasn't surprised to see that Leo had thrust himself inside the dojo at this time; he's made up a schedule for himself. Donnie must've gone out to the nearest dumpster to rummage around and who only knows where Raph could be lingering these days. Xena didn't mind that she was starting with Mikey, he was the one that was there for Aidan the most when he needed company.

Mikey looked down to see that Xena hadn't carried Aidan into the lair with her but there was something else that she was holding. She grinned as she took out cookies and a bag of Twix which only made Mikey beam as he knew what that could mean. He quickly turned and ran over to the fridge as he quickly opened it up and placed his hand into the back as he took out a Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and a popcorn bag. Xena placed herself down onto the couch and placed her feet on the coffee table as she heard the popcorn popping. She dumped the other bag down as tons of movies scattered on the middle seat.

"So what do you think we should watch?" Xena asked, "I already brought over all of the comedy movies that I own"

Mikey appeared over the couch as he rummaged around, "Let's do this one! I haven't seen it in forever! Put it on!"

Xena rolled her eyes, "Why am I not surprised. Rush Hour. Let me take a wild guess, you want to do a movie marathon with all of the Rush Hour movies"

Before Mikey could respond, the microwave beeped as he quickly ran back over to the kitchen. Xena moved over to the DVD player and put it on as Mikey flipped onto his side of the sofa. She plopped herself down onto the couch and glanced over to the dojo, not surprised that the door was completely closed. It was Leo's little world that he loved to submerge himself into.

She turned and looked over to Mikey as he handed her a spoon and placed the small bucket of ice-cream in between them. Xena quickly took out a huge amount of ice-cream before plopping it into her mouth. Her mouth tingled at how cold and how sweet it was.

Mikey quickly pressed play once the main menu popped up as Xena took out a piece of candy and watched the movie. This movie was Mikey's all time favorite and he could probably recite the whole movie if he was challenged to.

Xena probably watched this ¼ as much as the turtle has but she would gladly sit through it just to keep him company.

Everyone else has decided that enough was enough of the movie but Mikey refuses to let it go. She didn't understand how the others could abandon such an oldie. She didn't care how many times she watches it with Mikey, her stomach still cramps from laughing so hard. Mikey threw popcorn into his mouth and continued to eat as he moved the bowl out to Xena who took it without looking at him. He remembered how they hadn't really made this a habit until Xena's short pregnancy where she craved almost about everything. She and Mikey would often tease saying it's because Donnie wanted her to eat the healthiest things whenever she ate, he even banned her from pizza's!

"Where's the little dude? I thought that you would bring him along" Mikey broke the silence.

Xena answered, "Casey's got him. He felt like it's been forever since he's hung out with Aidan"

Mikey mumbled, "I could say the same thing, you know but with you. I kind of forgot how it was before"

"I'm going to try and not let it got back to that" Xena turned to him, "I know when Leo first left, we weren't exactly close. But ever since I got pregnant, you and the others helped me out. I just wanted to make room for everyone and not neglect the ones I care about"

"Good! Because it's been getting kinda lonely with not seeing little fire around" Mikey confessed.

Xena smiled, "You can still see him, you know. I think Leo can ease up on the father mission so that way he can see his uncles again"

"Yeah, right! Tell that to Leo" Mikey scoffed as he nodded over to the dojo.

"I will. Don't worry" Xena stuffed a cookie in her face.

Mikey smiled, "I missed these lazy days"

Xena laughed at the TV as Mikey chimed in at the first laugh of the movie. She turned back to the turtle who wasn't watching her anymore but the movie instead. He leaned in with an eager grin on his face, knowing one of his favorite lines was coming up. Xena pulled her legs up in a cross legged manner as she took another bite out of the ice-cream. Mikey let out a laugh as he leaned his head back and slapped his knee.

"Me too, Mikey. I missed having these movie marathons with you" Xena confessed, "Let's make sure to do more of these"

Mikey straightened up and looked over to Xena who was staring at him. He looked down to her hand and noticed that she had only her pinky poking out of her fist. Mikey giggled as he took out his own pinky and wrapped it around hers. Xena smiled at their promise before Mikey took the ice-cream from between them as he took a bite.

"You better not break that finger anytime soon" Mikey warned her.

Xena laughed, "I'll try not to"

"Protect it with your life, dude!"

"I will!"

Mikey and Xena gave each other a silent staredown until Xena broke the hold. Mikey cheered for himself as he continued to watch the movie. Xena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

Xena silently smirked to herself as she felt like there was two down and one more to go. Although, she had to stay and listen to Donnie talk about his experiments for nearly two hours for them to be okay, she was slightly more worried about what Raph was going to make her do.

Mikey let out, "Oh! Here comes a good part! It gets me every time!"

Just after he said that, Chris Tucker started to dance crazy in the street making both Mikey and Xena crack up at his dance moves.


	26. Shaky Future

Xena gasped as she nearly collapsed on herself, her lungs burning and her limbs begging her to take a break. She knew she couldn't take that risk as she glanced behind her but of course didn't see anything. Xena swallowed as she turned and forced herself back up and started to run to the other side of the building. She was about to jump but at the last second, turned and went right to jump to a closer building. Her heart pumped out of her chest as she zig-zagged and stayed in the darkness. She was almost to her point of destination and knew that once she's reached it, she will be safe.

A ninja star suddenly whisked by her, feeling the wind on her cheekbone. Xena skidded to a stop and pulled out her weapon and turned round. She glanced around but couldn't see a thing as she tried to calm down her breathing. Xena decided to try and outrun her intruder but collided into a shadow, sending her to the ground. Her weapon skidded to the floor, before Xena could move to get it, she felt a blade pressed to her neck.

Raph smirked, "I win. You made it too easy, Xena. The Foot probably woke up from their little catnaps. Even a blind man could've hunted you down from all that panting! How are you expected to protect your son if you make it too easy to hunt you down?"

Xena swatted the sai off of her neck, "This is not my idea of fun"

"I know" Raph straightened up, "But I got nothing else to do since the Nightwatcher days are behind me and the Foot ain't exactly makin' themselves known right now. You can think about this as training in a way. In case something happens that looks close to your vision"

"Are you still worried about that? We stopped the Generals, Raph. They're dust in the wind right now. They failed on trying to rule the world"

Raph turned his shell to her, "Doesn't mean that something like that will happen anytime soon. I want to make sure that if we fail as brothers, that you will succeed as a mother. Especially if the Foot finds out about him being a mix of turtle and human"

Xena slowly edged over to him, "You're doing this to protect me and my son?"

Raph looked to her, "I may not show my affections with the little fireball but that doesn't mean I don't worry about him"

Xena smiled, "We won't let that happen because nothing will happen to you and your brothers"

"Yeah, we both need to make it up to Leo for being pains in his shell" Raph laughed, "I just figured that this would be a great way to start"

Xena looked to her right as Winters tower was still standing tall over the city but it wasn't as lit up as it used to be. The newspaper and gossip channels have been reeling over what happened to the man as he left no message of leave for his department. Sooner or later, they will start to have an auction of his most valuable prizes before the building goes back onto the market. Xena could still feel the sinking feeling of being only seconds away from losing Leo and regretting treating him like trash forever.

Xena agreed, "We won't let that happen again. So where should my next safety zone be?"

"You want to go again?" Raph looked to her in surprise but already saw that she was getting ready to run, "Fine, but let's start a little bit closer now. How about with sugar maple drive? It's not that far from here"

Xena smirked, "Oh, I'll definitely reach that place in no time. Just you wouldn't mind in giving me a head start, would you?"

Raph dropped his arms to his sides and rolled his eyes at the redheaded teenager. He looked to her who only gave the turtle a sheepish grin. He let out a huff and nodded, making Xena take off to the left side of the building.

"I'm being punished, aren't I?" Raph asked the heavens before he made a run for Xena's direction.


	27. Expansion

Xena watched as Leo and Aidan slept in her small bed, both of their faces peaceful in their far off places. She couldn't help but think about what Raphael had told her the other night about the potential for failure. She was confident in the Turtles overcoming anything but still she had a lingering doubt. Xena calmed herself down as she closed her eyes and thought about the dojo with its candles lit. The next thing she knew, she felt herself standing and the flickering of the candles as she opened her eyes. Kneeling in the center was Master Splinter as he wasn't fazed by Xena astral projecting herself inside.

He opened his eyes, "Should you be with your family? I thought Leonardo was supposed to spend the night at your apartment"

"Something's been troubling me, Sensei" Xena walked over and kneeled in front of him, "Do you believe that the Shredder is back? Karai seemed confident in him returning and… I saw him. Well, a shadow of him in a way. But I could sense that it was him"

"Then it is true. Our old enemy is back. Although, we should not go out and look for him"

Xena quickly objected, "I wasn't hinting that we should go and find him. I'm just worried about him finding out about 's already training me as if Shredder already knows about him. We don't even know if Karai heard us talking about him or not and that information is what Shredder will kill for"

Master Splinter looked her in the eyes, "It will not come to that, my child"

"Your talks used to calm me down but right now it really isn't" Xena confessed.

She glanced back down to the table as the feeling in her stomach wouldn't go away. Shredder nearly killed the four brothers together. No one has seen him for a while and the last time they met, he found out about Xena being a psychic. Now this psychic has a child, a species that both Leo and she created. Xena swallowed as she wiped away a tear.

"I'm scared, Sensei"

"Then I will train you. If what protection is what you are truly fearing than I will train you to hone your skills more. Would that make you feel better?"

Xena thought long and hard about it as she bit onto her lip. She didn't know what she wanted to hear when she was talking about Shredder. No one has been able to take on Shredder, even she couldn't handle him even when she predicted his moves. Xena knew she had to become stronger if not for the family but for her child.

Xena nodded, "Yes. I want to rely both on my fighting skills and my psychic abilities. Let's try to expand my power so that way I can access your thoughts and how to become like you"

Splinter told her, "You've tried that before on Leonardo"

Xena nodded, "Yes, but it didn't work so I eventually stopped. Now I feel like if I expand more on using my powers, they will eventually grow"

"Most of your powers require a meditative state of mind" Splinter hinted.

Xena shrugged, "That's a start"

Splinter nodded, "Then that is where we will start. Go now. Be with your loved one and son, we will start tomorrow when you're in your actual body"

"Thank you, Master Splinter, you don't know how much this means to me" Xena smiled to him.

Splinter objected, "But I actually do. You often forget that I, too, am also a parent and would move mountains just to see my boys safe"

Xena couldn't say anything but nodded to the elder rat and gave him a proper bow. Splinter accepted it before he saw Xena fade away. He smiled to where she was kneeling before as he remembered her as the little girl that Leonardo led into his home.

He knew from the second he saw her that Xena was special to his eldest son but he never knew it would blossom to this. Splinter closed his eyes once again and returned to his meditation.

Xena quickly inhaled and opened her eyes as she noticed Leo stirred and looked over to her. He smiled and placed a hand on hers as he whispered, "You okay?"

Xena glanced down to Aidan between them before nodding, "I am now"

Leo seemed to be comfortable with that answer as he watched Xena close her eyes and drift off to sleep.


	28. Soundtrack

What About Now- Daughtry

When I'm Gone- 3 Doors Down

Second Chance- Shinedown

Halfway Gone- Lifehouse

Savin' Me- Nickelback

Never Say Never- The Fray

Let Me Be Myself- 3 Doors Down

How You Remind Me- Nickelback

Over My Head- The Fray

The Reason- Hoobastank

Far Away- Nickelback

September- Daughtry

You Found Me- the Fray

Apologize- OneRepublic

Kryptonite- 3 Doors Down


End file.
